Quirkless!
by curry-llama
Summary: A chance encounter with a quirkless villain at the age of 10 sends his life spiraling off tangent. Now Izuku is stuck morally questioning his odd new friendship with the enemy. Maybe helping the wrong side wasn't so bad. In which Izuku realizes that sometimes it feels good to be bad. Slow burn so he isn't a villain at the start. Villain!Deku. Cover Jazz hop. CURRENTLY IN REVISION
1. The Status Quo

Quirkless

Hello readers! I've never done a BNHA fanfiction before. I've mostly dabbled in Danny Phantom crossovers and some Naruto. Anyway I absolutely love the whole Villain Deku au. I mean I think I drew my inspiration of this story from another great story called Catharsis on ArchiveofOurOwn. It was a really good story.

Warnings:

A lot of swearing?

One of the characters has a mouth more rotten than Katsuki so beware. Also my own OC but he's not the central character so it should be fine.

I'm not going to have pairings in this story unless they're canon or serve a darn good purpose.

Slow burn so Deku isn't an established villain at the start and rather follows the journey of how he turned to the dark side.

Deku won't have quirks in this- hence the title.

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia. Lol I would have probably made Izuku's hair orange if I did.

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Chapter 1

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The first meaningful event in Izuku's life had been his disappointment when hearing he was quirkless. The second most monumental moment in his life had been a rather normal day turning sour. A 10 year old Izuku had sat down, gripping his small legs in pain. There was something lonely about the park. Kids were everywhere but it didn't feel lively, well at least not for Izuku Midoriya. A small part of him cried out for attention, screaming for someone, anyone to notice him but children were cruel and no one was born equal. For years he had watched as other children grew up laughing, throwing fire balls, extending limbs, and levitating objects to their will, all the while with the small faith that one day that would be him. It came as a blow when it was confirmed he was quirkless.

"Deku, go home you fucking shit head!"

"B-but mom s-said I had to go with y-you," Izuku stuttered meekly as he looked away.

"Even a useless quirkless little bitch like you can walk yourself home! For fucks sake just go already," Bakugo growled as he placed a threatening hand on the small boy's chest.

"Y-yes," Izuku yelped as he scrambled to his feet, despite the pain from the blast he got to his right leg.

Holding back tears became harder and harder as the years past. For a while it felt like just a phase, that Katsuki would leave him be, and that once people saw past his quirklessness they would see a person worth befriending. But even after 4 years of school everyone was still avoiding him like a plague and if they weren't it was simply to make a jab at his expense. Izuku felt tears roll from his eyes as he walked through the empty streets.

"C-crying is f-for the weak," he mumbled, punishing himself for the simple crime of showing weakness.

A sudden explosion caught the boy off guard, the impact throwing him into a wall. Gasping for breath the tousled boy weakly stood to his feet. He glimpsed something rather odd. A man in a bright green and orange trench coat was laughing with malice as he tied up a hero with nothing but a metal cable. Izuku was frozen in place as the hero/villain battle commenced again, as the hero struggled, his body smoking in flames but unable to light up due to the liquid drenching his body.

"I won't let you get away with this!" the hero known as Lighter exclaimed in anger.

"Yes, it would be depressing if a no-name, quirkless villain beat you wouldn't it?"

 _Quirkless…_

Izuku froze in surprise as his world stood still for a minute. For once in his life his thoughts didn't wonder to the possible uses of the hero's quirk, not even to the many solutions for his tight situation, but it stood solely on the villain. A villain, a _quirkless_ villain, was overpowering a B-range hero with _ease_. A shiver went down the boy's spine as he watched on in fascination. He knew he shouldn't be feeling happy, he knew that he should be screaming for Lighter's victory, but a small part of him felt for the Trickster. A part of him wanted the quirkless villain to win.

"Looks like it's time for me to leave," he chirped as the sirens of police vehicles loomed from the distance.

It felt only natural for the boy to chase after the villain, to exert himself in ways unknown to him both physically and mentally to reach this elusive goal. Izuku ran, and ran, barely keeping up with the villain much taller, and about to jump on a bike. His heart beat fast as he grabbed onto the villain's cloak and forced himself on the bike just in time.

"Kid, what the fuck are you doing?" the villain yelled in confusion.

Izuku was crying in fear as he grabbed onto the panicking villains back, his body barely on the seat to be considered safe. For a moment he was questioning his sanity as he cried on a villain, the kind of person he wanted to defeat his whole life.

"Fuck it kid, I could throw you off right now. Give me on goddam reason why I shouldn't," the man growled in irritation.

"Y-you don't have a q-quirk!" Izuku cried.

The villain was visibly flustered as he drew to a corner, making sure no one saw him. He roughly pulled of his bike as the boy fell on the ground in a heap.

"Look, I steal things, sometimes I kill some heroes, but I darn as hell am not a child murderer although you're really pushing the idea here brat."

"I-I'm sorry- I just…"

"-What, thought it would be amazing to hitch a ride on a potential rapists bike? What are you, fucking dense? If I were Dark Lightning or fucking Ablaze, you would have been roast chicken by now!"

The villain growled wondering why he was giving the child a safety lesson instead of simply shooting him. Once he looked at how pathetic the little boy was he couldn't help but begrudgingly see a little bit of himself when he was that age.

Izuku was shaking like a leaf, his small body quaking and whimpering in fear. For the millionth time this day he questioned his sanity. A large part of him was screaming at him to apologise and leave the scary man alone but something seemed to be overriding his reason. With resolute eyes the boy stared right into the Villain's.

"Can I become strong like y-you even w-without a quirk?"

Trickster froze for a second, unsure of what to make of the suicidal boy. On one hand he knew on his reputation as a villain he should probably scar this boy for life, on the other… well he could feel only sympathy. Being quirkless was one of the reasons he had become the way he was right now, and back then quite a few people didn't have quirks. He couldn't quite imagine how it would be for this child, whose generation all had quirks except for the minor 20 or so percent that didn't. He could imagine there would be a lot of bullying but worst of all he could imagine the pity.

"Listen well brat, because I'm not going to let you tag along. Quirks are fucking stupid, some quirks are fucking useless, and some quirks are near god-level unstoppable, but get it into your thick brainwashed little bitch as head that fucking most of the population's quirks are jack-shit useless in combat."

The boy was listening intently enraptured by the completely foreign perspective he was hearing. Most quirks were useless… he had never thought of it that way and his head generated a thousand scenarios in which he was told a useless quirk was better than none. Despite his inner turmoil Trickster continued his rant.

"If you have fucking cotton candy for hair it isn't going to do jack shit for you in combat and yet idiots like them are fucking allowed to become heroes. A quirkless person can never become a hero although heroes are fucking useless trash anyway. So do whatever the fuck you want as long as you stop being a whiny piece of shit and find alternatives."

Izuku watched as the Villain got on his bike and sped away. It admittedly wasn't the most inspiring of pep talks (what with all the swearing and all) but for a whole minute he stood his ground, simply letting those crass yet meaningful words sink in. He knew it to be true, there were no heroes who were quirkless, the idea itself was laughable but suddenly it didn't seem so funny. What was the difference between him and his mother combat wise… nothing. So why was it that his own mother had a higher chance of becoming a hero than him?

For a moment the 10 year old simply let the questions sit unanswered. Tiredness swept over him and suddenly thinking seemed like far too much trouble. All Might was the greatest hero, you had to have quirks to be a hero, and the only really useful thing you could do with yourself was to be a hero… it didn't seem so concrete anymore. Izuku walked home, knowing that his questions would remain unanswered.

Now that he looked back that was the start of a series of events that really pushed him over the edge.

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Sorry guys this chap is pretty small. Anyway leave a review or follow. Meh do whatever you want. It's not like I have crippling anxiety or anything. Jks. Feel free to leave a comment instead of reading this bitch as authors note.


	2. To Help Ones Enemy

Quirkless!

Man I really love writing this story. I wrote the first chapter like a year or so ago and then I came back to it and thought yeah I could continue with it. I decided to go with the OC Trickster that I only wanted to write once but then I kind of liked his character.

It's such a pain updating though because I'm doing my HSC final exams and I really should be studying. Lol it's been a fun year though what with all the mango memes that our cohort is releasing. If you haven't heard about how the Australian media/news has waged war on the year 12 of 2017 then you should search it up. Let the memes keep rollin.

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Chapter 2

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Arguably the most monumental event in Izuku's life seemed to follow right after his second encounter with the Trickster. When Izuku turned 11 his mother gave him special privileges of coming home whenever he wanted as long as it was before 10. Of course he used this time wisely… by getting involved in hero fights of course. It wasn't like he wanted to be a potential casualty but he just couldn't help but want to see exactly how they fought. There was a silent thrill to know he could have handled their quirks much better than them if he had them. It was also enthralling watching them fight. Things like ring-fights and martial arts tournaments weren't nearly as interesting as hero fights where there were real, tangible consequences to the heroes/villains failure. Most of the time he would vouch for the hero because the villains really were annoying but today was not that day.

Izuku was frozen in place. He didn't mean to get in the middle of this fight and he wasn't sure if he was stupidly excited or extremely worried. The Trickster was fighting Endeavour! Every sensible part of him was screaming for him to run away. The Trickster was usually only involved with heroes to humiliate them as a way to say 'fuck you' to the world. It really wasn't his business trying to get involved with a hero fight and it would be a literal crime to do so, but despite everything he still watched silently from a corner. Trickster was literally getting smashed in by Endeavour, and despite everything, that villain was really the first person in his life to give him hope that he could amount to something. In a weird, almost senseless way, Izuku knew he admired him although that wasn't to say he wanted to be a villain.

Trickster's screamed as his right arm was burnt which prompted Izuku to spring to action. He didn't have time to mentally prepare for the crime he was just about to commit so he shoved it to the furthest recesses of his mind and found a random paper bag near a bin to put on his face. He jumped to the roof and struggled to break a creaky pipe open. Once it was pried open he grabbed a metal bin, chucked its contents out and filled the bin with water. He looked down to see Endeavour standing atop the Trickster as he moved for the final capture. Izuku knew the villain had to have done something infuriating for the 2nd best hero to catch him away from the crowds. Endeavour was a hero who practically demanded media attention.

Without taking too much time he dumped the water from the bin all over the flame hero, momentarily putting him out before aiming a well-thrown metal bin at the heroes head. The hero stumbled back, dazed and caught off guard by the assault. He jumped from the lowered roof, grabbed the hands of the Villain and made a dash for it when he noticed the man's bike. The shocked villain shook himself from his stupor before realising he was saved by a midget who could hardly run fast enough. With his good hand he practically jousted the boy to his shoulders before jumping on his bike quick enough for the flame hero to not have caught up. It was only once they were a safe distance away that he acknowledged the boy roughly trying to sit properly on the bike.

"Who the fuck are you?! Not that I'm complaining cause you saved my ass from that crusty mother-fucker."

"O-Oh my god! Oh my god! I-I saved a v- _villain._ I saved a villain!" Izuku screamed as it finally sunk in.

"What the fuck did you think you were doing then?!" Trickster yelled hysterically.

Both the boy and villain were mentally freaking out; one because he had just broken the law for the first time in his life, and the other because he had a near death experience and he was saved by a kid who didn't know what he was doing.

"Oh my god, my mom's going to kill me and then I'll go to prison and then I'll be raped because that's what I heard happens there. I'll never be able to become a hero again and then the first time I meet All-Might will be from the wrong end of the prison cell. Who am I kidding? I'll probably never meet All-Might! I'm not even an important villain. Holy shit since when did I start thinking I was a villain? Oh right it was after I _helped_ one escape from the number 2 hero-"

"For fucks sake kid, shut the fuck up!"

Trickster pulled into his garage that led to his lab downstairs. His right arm was burning in pain from the wound and the kid who saved him wasn't helping with his aggravating mumbling. He finally had enough and ripped the stupid paper bag of the kids face. He frowned for a second recognising that ruffled green hair, wide frightful doe eyes, and freckled face. He knew he had seen this kid somewhere and after a few seconds of really contemplative thinking he remembered the kid.

" _Can I become strong like y-you even w-without a quirk?"_

Yeah he remembered the little fucker saying something like that after he had the audacity of jumping on his bike without his permission. Now here he was again, this time saving his ass, and jumping on his bike _again_. He didn't know whether to be grateful or fear that he was utterly screwed over. He hadn't thought things through when he bought the kid right to the front entrance of his base. Still he knew this wound was bleeding too much and he would probably lose consciousness if he didn't treat it soon. He really didn't want to have it scar either and he couldn't just let the kid go after everything he had witnessed.

"Ohmygoshyourarm!" Izuku screamed once he got out of his frightful trance of having helped a villain.

"Kid you better shut the fuck up. Come with me," Trickster growled as he grabbed the kid by his arm and dragged him into the inconspicuous basement.

Izuku was freaking out although he didn't have the will to struggle against his suddenly rough treatment. He was going into a villain's lair for the first time in his life! He didn't know whether to shit his pants in fear or excitement. Sure he had imagined it happening in his dreams but it was mostly under the circumstance in which he was a hero hunting down a villain. He didn't think he'd be dragged into one after _saving_ a villain. Still his fear for his own safety was drowned out by the sudden fear _for_ the villain. The man was clearly gasping for breath and his right arm looked beyond gruesome as it was charred in some areas and completely red in others. If Izuku wasn't used to seeing burn wounds- curtsey of Kaachan -he would have puked.

He didn't know what he was expecting with the lair but it certainly wasn't this. He had expected ominous black colours, and judging from the Tricksters green and orange colour scheme maybe some psychedelic wall papers and a bunch of magic trick items or something that at least remotely screamed mentally deranged villain. He did not expect a lab like setting, pristinely clean and completely normal in a rich sort of way. He was once again reminded of the elephant, or in this case the villain, in the room when he heard a muffled groan. The Trickster was trying to put ice on his wound.

"Don't do that!" Izuku screamed as he grabbed the packet of ice and chucked it away. The villain simply gave him an exasperated look and the boy decided to explain himself. "Um ice makes it worse. L-let me help. I-I um- have some e-experience with burns," he finally offered.

The Trickster was shocked but otherwise let the kid help him despite everything. Suddenly he was very aware of the scarred skin all over the boy's arms as he took off his jacket. It eased him a little as he let the 12 year old guide his hands under the sink and turn the tap on. He winced in pain and tried to pull away but the boy gripped harder and forced his arms back under the water.

"I-I know it hurts but you have to- um- keep it there for at least 10 minutes. You have s-second degree burns so we should probably go to the hospital."

"Villain, remember," he grunted as he tried to keep his mind of the pain.

"O-oh right…"

"Why did you help me?" he finally asked.

"I… You helped me a lot before. I mean when you um- told me to 'you stop being a whiny piece of shit and find alternatives'." Izuku quoted.

"And you remember that word for word. That's fucking creepy kid."

"T-that's not creepy! You were the first person to tell me I could do it! O-of course I remember," Izuku said starting out loud but ending small as he blushed crimson red.

The Trickster sighed but decided to look away unsure of how he was meant to respond to such an earnest reply. He didn't want to admit it but he wore a flustered expression from underneath his mask. The kid just had to make the situation super awkward and he wasn't feeling happy from something as disgusting as actually changing the life of someone for the better rather than for the worse- he was definitely not feeling happy! Despite his denial for once in his life he let someone he didn't really know lead him around. He grimaced when the tap was turned off and the cooling water left his skin.

"Don't touch it," Izuku ordered as he went to his bag and rummaged through to find his first aid. He pulled out the small box and took out two pills. "Um are there cups here?"

The villain pulled open a cupboard he was sure the boy couldn't reach before taking out a cup and filling it with water. The boy handed him the pills before taking out cream from his box.

"That's ibuprofen. You aren't allergic to it right? What about anti-biotic cream?"

"So you carry around pain killers and burn cream everywhere you go kid?"

"I- uh have a-a friend who has an explosive quirk," Izuku stumbled as he squirted out a copious amount of cream onto the man's arm.

The villain looked at the boy's bare arm and raised a brow although it went unnoticed to the kid with his mask on. He saw the scars that ran up his arm and a pink one that seemed somewhat new to the collection. They looked inflicted on purpose.

" _Friend_ , sure," the villain responded sarcastically. "So what's the name of my saviour? I was in a really fucking tight spot there."

"M-Midoriya Izuku, what's yours?" the boy stuttered out before he realised how stupid he sounded. "I-I mean you don't have to tell me secret identity a-and all."

"As long as you promise not to tell anyone else," the man commended only to get a vigorous head nod from the frantic child. It's Akiyoshi Torio."

Despite his best attempts Izuku could hold back his laughter. The now dubbed Akiyoshi grumbled his irritation before slapping the boy's head.

"Show me some fucking respect."

"I'm sorry, it's just that your- your parents named you 'bright morality'," the boy said before laughing again at the irony.

"Shut up, you're literally named after the colour green kid, you have no right to fucking make fun of my name," Akiyoshi grumbled.

"I-I'm sorry. It's just so… ironic," Izuku finally mumbled as he calmed down.

It sunk in that he was laughing at a villain. It sunk in that he had helped a villain escape a hero. It sunk in that after helping said villain that he didn't just leave quietly but was invited into his lair and helped him bandage his arm! Suffice to say Midoriya was going through a mini-panic attack.

"Oh god what have I done?" he said letting out his emotions as he sunk into his knees.

"For what it's worth kid, as long as you don't blabber your mouth I'll leave you the fuck alone and we can pretend this never happened."

"No!" he exclaimed before he realised what he had just said. "I-I mean s-s-sure! Yeah, it's f-for the best! It's not l-like you're the f-first person to acknowledge me or n-not call me useless. I-I mean it's not like I _really_ care t-that helping a villain was **the first useful thing I've done in my life**!"

Akiyoshi blinked at the sudden burst of emotion from the normally quiet stuttering boy. Even Midoriya paused as he reeled back at what he had just. He groaned into his hands as he wondered what had gotten into him. He could not understand for the life of him why he felt afraid at the prospect of never seeing Akiyoshi again. The experience was too foreign, too jarring to get his head around. It crossed his mind that he should be afraid that he was in the lair of a villain who could so easily kill him if he so wished and that any sane person who wanted to be a future hero shouldn't have gotten themselves in this situation in the first place but… he couldn't care less about that. It took a villain; a person who committed crime on a near daily basis, a person who he knew should be the enemy, to say the first kind words he had ever heard in his life.

 _It took a villain!_

For once in his life Izuku didn't care whether this man was a hero or a villain; all he cared about was if he could possibly be friends with him. He wasn't _useless_ to Akiyoshi. He wasn't _worthless_ or even discriminated against because of his status and this was the man who knew full well how it felt like to be him. He didn't care if he was being selfish or if this was simply a means for him to get some recognition he was starved of… he just didn't want the man to disappear from his life.

"Midoriya, you saved my life back there so I'm going to give you the most worthwhile fucking piece of golden shit advice I have never given another soul; leave now. I'm a dirty shit-bag of a beautiful villain and I can see how that may appeal to someone as smart as you because _I am_ a _glorious_ cunt- but I'm still a Villain. If you're caught associating with me after _knowing_ my identity, and not reporting it, you could be put into prison as well."

"I-I don't care," he mumbled. "No one has ever been nice to me like you have."

Akiyoshi sweat dropped. 'If _I'm_ the nicest person he's met I don't want to know the people in his life,' he thought in exasperation. Still he knew that this was only a desperate 12-year old and even if the boy had stuck out his neck to save him he did not want to have a brat running around his lair to be _buddies_ with. He was a villain and was definitely not child care material. Sure he had been soft on the boy because he owed him his life now, and the brat was quirkless which did hit home, but he was not going to allow a midget to enter his life without real reason even if he did sort of like him.

"Kid I don't want to be your friend. This isn't some My Little Pony bullshit. There's no fan-fucking-tastic friendship is magic crap going on here. I really appreciate that you see the glorious fucker I am but you're leaving to mommy and daddy before I blow you're fucking cunt to smithereens!"

The disgruntled villain grabbed the small yelping boy by his collar easily picking him up from the floor like a mother cat would to its young and dragged him out. Midoriya yelped as he was so easily picked up but was momentarily surprised by the man's strength.

"W-wait I can be o-of help!"

"Oh yeah, and what's a 12 year old baby faced bitch going to do for a villain?"

Izuku cringed at the crude language but decided not to comment on it. The man did have some… colourful language in his arsenal but that wasn't going to put the boy off the first meaningful relationship in his life sans his mother.

"I'm really good at tactics! I keep data on all the heroes and villains I encounter!"

Izuku frantically reached for his bag, despite being carried by his scruff like a common animal, and pulled out his book. The villain sighed but decided to read it anyway. He was only humouring the kid- or so he thought. Akiyoshi expected a lot of things but he certainly didn't expect this. The boy's writing was neat, organised, and his analysis actually pretty well written. He noted a few bad puns here and there but overall there were insights into the weaknesses of Kamui Woods and other heroes that he had simply not thought of. He knew this information would be particularly handy for him considering he fought with ingenuity alone rather than with the added benefits of a quirk. Any information he could use in the field was a matter of life and death.

"I'm listening kid," he finally said as he took of his mask.

Midoriya wasn't expecting to see a rather handsome face behind the mask. The man had striking black eyes that seemed so dark it just couldn't have been a deep brown, and his features were so generically perfect that Izuku was certain the man was both stunning and simultaneously forgetful, like the generic models you often admired for one second and dismissed the next. He was almost certain that it was useful to garner respect and at the same time help the man blend in with the crowd as an unassuming figure. It was almost perfect for a villain. Couple his image with the fact that he was quirkless meant that Akiyoshi was one of the few villains with a secret identity. There were no notable quirks to assist him and from his face alone Izuku almost felt like the man could do nothing as out-of-the-norm as being a villain.

"Admiring my good looks I see. Sorry kid but I'm _way_ too old for you and I don't dig guys."

"I-I wasn't! You just have a perfect face!" Izuku exclaimed before he realised what he said was taken entirely the wrong way. "I-m-mean y-your face l-looks sort of nice b-but f-forgettable you know?"

"I don't know if I should be insulted or flattered," Akiyoshi mumbled before he decided to get back on topic. "You realise what you're asking for right kid? It's one thing to keep silent about a villain but it's something entirely different to _help_ one. You're not just a criminal now you're an accomplice."

Izuku blanked for a second before he gulped down his spit nervously and nodded his head. He had always wanted to be a hero. He had always wanted to prove that he wasn't a worthless, quirkless individual. Suddenly with Akiyoshi he was neither. The Trickster had no quirks and he was still formidable. Sure he wasn't an A class villain but he was a high B class for sure. With him Izuku knew he wasn't seen as worthless. The man had definitely seen worth in him or he would not have stopped and given him a chance. Suddenly Izuku didn't feel like having to prove himself because he already had and he didn't even have to be a hero to do it. As long as someone, even a villain, kept believing in him then he would be happy.

There would be meaning to his life.

"Torio-san, I can be useful, and you've proven it to me so let me prove it to you!"

Akiyoshi didn't know what to say to such an earnest answer. He saw the longing in the boy's eyes and instantly knew the kid would not rat him out. He also knew of what the boy could offer him and what he could potentially be so he nodded and gave a feral grin in response. Much to the boy's confusion he moved for a pen and with his good arm, that sadly wasn't his dominant arm, he scribbled down his number.

"This is my number. This isn't my civilian number so memorise it and burn it after you're done and don't- for fucks sake- put it in your contacts list or something stupid that."

"Thank you!"

The man raised his arms in surprise when the teary eyed pre-teen jumped on him with a rather tight hug. He groaned awkwardly as he pat the boy's head with a good arm and stiffly looked away. He was unused to such blatant expressions of love. He opened the door signalling his discomfort and for the boy to leave.

"Oh- um- yeah I'll just go," Izuku mumbled awkwardly as he wiped away the tears and pointed outside.

"Midoriya"

"Yeah?"

"Welcome to the dark side"

* * *

Izuku isn't really a villain yet, although by definition of the law he is a criminal. I think criminals and villains are a little different. Akiyoshi is doing his darn best to be differentiated from a common criminal though.

To answer the Guests question; the reason for Izuku turning villainous is sadly a major plot spoiler. Sorry I can't answer your question but I'm trying not to give away the things that will happen in the future. I'm so happy for all the reviews. I'm pretty much a review whore and really sorry for all the swearing in this chapter. Akiyoshi has a potty mouth. The only thing I can comment on without really giving away too much of what's going to happen is that in the distant future Izuku will be a part of the league of villains. This story follows the journey of him getting there.

Special thanks to PromiseMeForever15, VillainDeku, Guest?, Karlos1234ify, Roxas Itsuka, and Feel The Void for the reviews. I absolutely love you guys for taking the time to write something down! I read all my reviews because what else am I meant to do with it? Jks I love reviews. Even if you roast the shit out of my story I will still love the review. Have I mentioned that I love reviews?


	3. Live And Let Go

Quirkless!

I should be studying for exams but this chapter was pre-written and I did want to get it out XD Also… procrastination is best served with another chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 3

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Izuku walked home in complete stiffness as he contemplated what he had just committed to. As he marched into his house, completely ignoring his concerned mother, he felt some form of dread work its way up his spine. Entering his room and locking himself in what had once been his safe haven was the worst part. As if to mock him, the once inspiring posters of All-Might all over his walls, seemed to imprison him. He looked at the biggest one pointing a finger at him, with a smile that practically screamed 'I caught you in the act villain'.

His trembling fingers moved to take down the poster out of sheer fear but he couldn't bring himself to. This was All-Might, his favourite hero, and his idol since he was born! He couldn't take down this poster after he paid a few hundred for the signed version! So like a good masochist he curled inside his All-Might themed mattress and pressed his head against his All-Might pillow and shuddered in self-loathing. Everything around him seemed to imprison him, to accuse him, to pull him into a cell and indict him of failing.

Safe to say he did not sleep that night.

* * *

Midoriya Inko knew there was something wrong with her child. Izuku had always been rather _enthusiastic_ about heroes. She was alright with it when he was a child, seemingly convinced that all children went through a hero phase and would eventually come out of it, but Izuku's ran a course longer than expected. So it was an odd day in the Midoriya family household when her son practically pulled down all his posters, action figures, and merchandise and neatly packed it into a box. She would have been overjoyed that her son was moving on from the hero phase if he hadn't been crying crocodile tears throughout the whole ordeal, and while she knew that they were inclined to such water-works on a daily basis, this one seemed different. This was the silent hiccupping sort of cry that Izuku cried when he was truly sad and mourning.

It was like something triggered him to suddenly give up on his dream. She noticed how much care he took to keeping his beloved collections un-creased and without finger-prints. While she had expected them to relocate to the attic, where he could retrieve them later if he so wished, she had not expected him to go online and sell everything. Although she was a bit surprised to find out that Midoriya was going to make a fortune out of it.

"Izuku, you know if you need money for something you can ask me," she offered her child.

"It's not about money," Izuku sighed as he wiped the tears away. "I just can't be a hero anymore."

 _Anymore._ It almost made her feel like her son had done something that made him think of it that way. She shook of the thought as quickly as it came. Izuku was the sweetest child she knew. She was certain he wouldn't be involved in anything wrong. She didn't think there was a bone in his body that could have done wrong.

* * *

Katsuki knew there was something going on with that idiot Deku. One day he came in looking like his pet dog had died and the blond decided he should leave him alone for the day. Even he couldn't kick a guy while he was down and Deku looked so pathetic. When the idiot didn't seem to be breaking out of his depression after a week, Katsuki decided he couldn't give a fucking piece of shit anymore about leaving him alone. So he stopped holding himself back from his usual taunts, becoming even more enraged when he received little to no response from the useless idiot.

It was only two weeks later that he knew something was wrong with the once hero loving nerd. He had gone to the science room for his detention after flipping off a teacher when he heard that stupid squeaky voice that instantly aggravated him.

"I-um, I decided that I'd like to take the offer to move up soon," Izuku mumbled.

"I'm so glad you've given up on that impractical dream of being a hero. You have a smart mind Izuku and you need to realise there are ways of helping people that don't involve using a quirk or your fists. I'm sure you'd do well in the medical or the scientific field."

"T-Thank you sir. I just- I just decided it's time to move on you know. My… friend told me that I have talents elsewhere that are important."

Katsuki couldn't believe his ears. Deku had a _friend_? He didn't know why he was feeling angry. It must have had something to do with the fact that the idiot was somehow moving up a grade like he was worth something. He should have been feeling happy that the idiot finally realised he couldn't be a hero but instead he was seething with rage and it didn't sit well with him.

"What do you mean Deku is moving up?!"

"K-Kaachan," Izuku yelped.

"That means Bakugo, that Midoriya has finally decided to take up the schools offer to move up. He had been holding back from accepting because he wanted time to prepare before applying to UA but now nothing's holding him back. He's aiming for Sumato Gakuen."

"As if this useless idiot could get into that prestigious school," Katsuki snorted.

He was surprised, when instead of laughing nervously and kissing his ass, Deku glared at him and stood tall. He had never seen such a blasted look of defiance before and he made a show of his explosive power only for the idiot to stand _taller_?

"You wanna fight you fucking turd?"

"Bakugo Katsuki, you better sit down or there will be more detentions!"

"Tch," the blond growled as he spat in disgust, grumbling as he took a seat. He wasn't holding back because of the idiot. He was holding back because he didn't want to suffer more annoying lunchtimes in this blasted room! (A/N yeah keep telling yourself that Katsuki)

After that the once fumbling and nervous Izuku Midoriya grew some balls. It unnerved Katsuki. Midoriya, whether he liked to admit it or not, had been a constant part of his life, like a really ugly birth-mark, that was always there in the corner of your eye and never seemed to leave. It felt weird when the idiot stopped following him around, stopped looking at him like he was worth something, and the worst part of it was when the Quirkless freak looked at him with disdain. He was the one meant to be wearing that expression. He had no fucking clue how Deku thought he could give him that expression.

That brings him to the present where he was currently blowing the idiot's legs up as the boy screamed on the ground. He was such a pussy. Katsuki wasn't even making the explosions on the skin. It was just enough to bruise the wimp and show him who was in charge. Plus he had years of experience on the idiot and knew how far he could go before the damage was irreversible. He was just surprised that he hadn't been taken away from the idiot when he blasted him too hard once. That knowledge in itself seemed to concrete the notion that it was okay to hurt Deku, after all no one cared about a worthless, Quirkless freak like him.

"Stop being a little bitch Deku. You think you're better than me?"

When the idiot glared at him with hate he had not expected a feeling of regret to well up in his chest. He hated the fact that he even felt bad for doing this and that made him more angry and the cycle continued. He even droned out his 'friends' behind him.

"I-I can't believe I looked up to you! You're just a narcissistic jerk!"

Both boys couldn't believe what was just said. Bakugo literally exploded in anger while Izuku clamped his mouth shut and shut his eyes for the oncoming pain. Surprisingly he only felt a painful blow to his head before he was left alone. Bakugo didn't have the will to hold back his hits anymore. He was seething in anger and he was sweating too much. He knew if he continued he would accidently kill the idiot so he stepped back and controlled himself. Despite his anger problems he knew the limits of his quirk well and he knew when to back off. This didn't mean he would stop hating the idiot but the anger just dropped as soon as it came back.

"I could kill you right now and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it," Katsuki growled.

"I wouldn't put it past you!" Izuku retorted.

Katsuki froze at the sheer ice in those words. He knew he wouldn't kill anybody. Not only would that screw over every fucking prospect of him being a hero but also any other jobs he would want to get into. Society had rules and he wasn't above them although he was certainly at the top.

"You little-"

"You think it's alright to blast me and push me around like I don't have feelings?! You want me to kiss your ass every waking moment because you have a quirk? Well I couldn't care less if you have a quirk because a complete asshole like you won't become a hero. I-If you end up a hero then the term hero itself will lose all its fucking meaning!"

Izuku didn't know how but he shakily got up and stood his ground despite the burning pain running through legs. He flinched at the murderous look Bakugo was giving him but he wouldn't back down anymore. He had been trampled on and trained since childhood to think he was worthless, to think he deserved these beatings but he knew that was wrong now. Akiyoshi had made it clear that he was acting like a complete pussy and screwing himself over by listening to a bully. He had given him worth and he would not let Bakugo undermine that.

"You're pushing it freak," Katsuki warned, arms letting out small explosions as a silent threat.

"No I need you to hear this," Izuku pushed despite the dread that overtook him. He quickly scanned the area and saw a congregation of students come around to see what the commotion was. Izuku knew that with such a crowd, Bakugo would be unable to _really_ hurt him. He was going to take this chance to get everything off his chest. Akiyoshi had told him to stick up for himself, to grab power and never let it go and he was going to do it.

"A hero is someone who protects others! Someone who inspires the best qualities of humanity. All I'm seeing from you is someone who lords themselves over the weaker man! You think it's heroic to beat someone down just because? Well I could hardly care less about you anymore! I have worth and it isn't by your approval it's by my own and by the people who love me!"

"You're pathetic! You think you can talk to me like this because there are people around? I'll show you just how worthless you are by blowing you up in front of them! Let's see if anyone comes to your rescue!"

Izuku gasped in fear as Katsuki created an explosion near his shoulder. He screamed as he stumbled back from the blow. The assault continued and no matter how much he tried to keep his position he stumbled further and further back until he fell down, a looming Katsuki over him. He looked past the bully and saw no one making a move to stop him. A few people whispered in worry but they didn't even try but some people were down right enjoying this scene. He felt something inside of him break and he didn't even know what it was that he lost except he could feel it shattering. All the fear inside of pain left him and instead it was left with a numb cold.

"You're all scum," he mumbled.

"What did you say you-"

" **You're all scum!** **Every single one of you**!"

Izuku wheezed as he struggled back to his feet and moved past Bakugo. The crowd started whispering and looking warily at him from emotions ranging from anger to guilt. Something broke inside of him. They didn't have faces anymore. They all blended together into a dull lifeless, nameless crowd. After staring them down with a look of utter contempt Izuku left the scene.

Katsuki was confused. All the anger from before had left him. He wanted the idiot to realise he was worthless but instead he managed the opposite. He had never seen the green haired idiot ever angry at anyone besides him on the occasion but now he had a look of hate. It didn't suit the otherwise annoyingly hopeful character Izuku was. Katsuki knew in that moment that he did not get Midoriya to see his own worthlessness but that of the people around him.

Thus marked another turning point in the life of Midoriya Izuku

* * *

Wow a lot of people actually like this story. I thought the fact that an OC is involved would put a lot of people off. I just found it really hard to make this sort of a progression story without my own characters. I'll try not to make them Mary Sues so they're at least somewhat interesting. I don't plan on making many more major OC's. There will be 2 more at max before the rest of the OC's just happen to be random villains, informants or heroes that play background characters.

So I read the Vigilante series called Boku No Hero Academia: Illegals and it was amazing. I think I actually enjoyed it more than Izuku's story to be honest. The Vigilantes are all so amazing and quirky and they make a lot of Marvel/DC comic book references I can't get enough of. I might add some of those characters in this later on.

Special thanks to Blaze Summers, angelcarstairs4679, Imperial warlord and VillainDeku2 for the reviews. I loved them guys! Also thanks to everyone who faved and followed this story. Leave reviews guys. Reviews are as good as cake to me.


	4. To Relive A Nightmare

Quirkless!

This is basically the last chapter but from Izuku's point of view. Sorry for changing the story's title to 'To Be Or Not To Be' and then Back to 'Quirkless!' I just didn't know what title I wanted so I tried both and realised that 'Quirkless!' although not really the most inspiring of titles still seemed less depressing than a Shakespeare quote about contemplating suicide (-_-)'

* * *

Chapter 4

* * *

Izuku remembered the shaky start he had with Akiyoshi Torio. The man swore worse than a sailor and he could probably beat Katsuki on that manner. Izuku paid the swearing no mind because behind those otherwise hurtful words there didn't hide that sting of contempt it usually held. Rather Torio loved swearing as a means of communicating the absurdity of life and occasionally because Midoriya realised he was too Tsundere to actually acknowledge feelings. Despite this Izuku clung to the two or so hours after school that he spent with the villain plotting battle tactics. The most impressive thing about Akiyoshi however was that he always made sure to tell him things he had never known or understood and he helped map out the boy's future now that he didn't want to go to UA.

"You can't join the other fucking useless hero schools either. You're going to go to Sumato cause they actually qualify you for positions outside of heroing."

"But I could always be an inside man," Izuku stuttered out.

"For the last fucking time you idiot, you aren't going to a hero school to infiltrate the hero business. For fucks sake they're going to do a thorough background check on you and they'll find out about me by extension. No I fucking own a chemical company so you'll work with me."

"W-wait you own a company?!"

"What did you think I stole those precious jewels only to sell them?! Fuck no! I like shiny things too much to give them away. I have a job so I can afford this shit."

Izuku was stunned by the man's eccentrics but he didn't judge. During the first week with Torio he realised the man didn't fight heroes because he needed to but rather because he wanted to. Izuku wondered what had happened to cause the man to be so bitter but the only answer he got was something about how he too would see it soon enough. Izuku really didn't think he would become as bitter as Torio but he kept that knowledge to himself.

As the days went by he started realising he was actually helping Torio and that meant that he couldn't have possibly been useless. That realisation in itself made Izuku a little angry at Katsuki for his obviously false taunts and jeers at his Quirkless situation. He stopped looking up to the powerful blond and instead of seeing his strengths he started noticing his weaknesses. He started seeing a side of Bakugo he had refused to see before but was so painfully clear right now. While the new revelations kept coming he didn't want to dwell on them. Yes he stopped admiring his blond bully but that didn't mean he had to hate him. So Izuku started ignoring Katsuki and it worked for a week or so until the bully started hounding him again.

2 weeks had passed with Izuku trying his best to avoid Katsuki and instead pushing his nose back into his studies. He did hero analysis things after school now but only for two hours instead of the whole day. The exams had passed and he got back amazing results. He had always been good at studies but he neglected it as he watched fights and dreamt of being a hero. Now that the distraction was out of the way he focused solely on his work at school and with Torio. He was going to get into Sumato and make Torio proud. Even his mother was becoming happier with him. She lost the usual worried expression that she had when he talked about becoming a hero now that he stopped bringing it up. It gripped at his heart that if his mother knew what he chose instead she would be far more stressed.

Izuku moved to tell his science teacher his wish to move up classes. The offer had stood before but he had been particularly afraid that he wouldn't be able to make the UA test if he skipped grades. He would have had less time to prepare for the physical aspect but now that didn't really matter. He wanted to get through school quickly so he could really start helping Torio and if that meant aiding a villain he couldn't care less. He wouldn't directly kill anyone but he would still protect his most precious person.

"I-um, I decided that I'd like to take the offer to move up soon," Izuku mumbled.

"I'm so glad you've given up on that impractical dream of being a hero. You have a smart mind Izuku and you need to realise there are ways of helping people that don't involve using a quirk or your fists. I'm sure you'd do well in the medical or the scientific field."

"T-Thank you sir. I just- I just decided it's time to move on you know. My… friend told me that I have talents elsewhere that are important."

"What do you mean Deku is moving up?!"

"K-Kaachan," Izuku yelped in sudden surprise as the blond barged in.

"That means Bakugo that Midoriya has finally decided to take up the schools offer to move up. He had been holding back from accepting because he wanted time to prepare before applying to UA but now nothing's holding him back. He's aiming for Sumato Gakuen."

"As if this useless idiot could get into that prestigious school," Katsuki snorted.

Izuku frowned in indignation. Did Katsuki think him so useless because of his lack of a Quirk that he forgot that despite everything Izuku still had brains like any of them? Izuku felt righteous indignation take over as he stood taller and stopped backing down from his tormenter. Akiyoshi came to mind instantly. His words of encouragement and approval every time he helped the man came up with a plan or notice a battle strategy seemed to reaffirm his confidence. Nothing Katsuki could say would take that away from him.

"You wanna fight you fucking turd?"

"Bakugo Katsuki, you better sit down or there will be more detentions!"

Katsuki backed down but not before making his apparent distaste known to the green haired boy. Izuku simply glared before leaving the room. He suddenly felt nauseous at the thought that he probably just made it worse for himself. He didn't want to think of what Katsuki had in store for his defiance.

Not a few days later found Izuku facing the consequence of his sudden back-bone. He had simply decided the mature thing to do to Katsuki's taunts was to ignore them and leave but apparently even that deserved a beating. Katsuki had pushed him down, being the stronger of the two, and started using his quirk on Izuku's legs. Despite his mind telling him to shut the hell up so as to not give the boy the satisfaction of his pain he could not help but do so.

"Stop being a little bitch Deku. You think you're better than me?"

Izuku with growing defiance glared at Katsuki with a new sense of hate. He didn't want to hate Katsuki and he didn't want to live with such ugly feelings, but they were festering inside of him, and Katsuki wasn't helping by being a complete dick. He lost whatever maturity he wanted to think he had when he opened his mouth.

"I-I can't believe I looked up to you! You're just a narcissistic jerk!"

Both boys couldn't believe what was just said. Bakugo literally exploded in anger while Izuku clamped his mouth shut and shut his eyes for the oncoming pain. Surprisingly he only felt a painful blow to his head before he was left alone. Bakugo didn't have the will to hold back his hits anymore. He was seething in anger and he was sweating too much.

"I could kill you right now and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it," Katsuki growled.

"I wouldn't put it past you," Izuku retorted.

Izuku let out the growing well of painful emotions inside of him that he had desperately tried to shove down. He could not help but hate Katsuki for hurting him and for what- to prove he was better? Izuku did not think he needed to be beaten and have his life made into a literal hell so someone like Katsuki could reaffirm his social standing.

"You little-"

"You think it's alright to blast me and push me around like I have no feelings?! You want me to kiss your ass every waking moment because you have a quirk? Well I couldn't care less if you have a quirk because a complete asshole like you won't become a hero. If you end up a hero then the term hero itself will lose all its fucking meaning!"

Izuku didn't know how but he shakily got up and stood his ground despite the pain on his legs. He flinched at the murderous look Bakugo was giving him but he wouldn't back down anymore. He had been trampled on and trained since childhood to think he was worthless, to think he deserved these beatings but he knew that was wrong now. Akiyoshi had made it clear that he was acting like a complete pussy and screwing himself over by listening to a bully. He had given him worth and he would not let Bakugo undermine that.

"You're pushing it freak," Katsuki warned, arms letting out small explosions as a silent threat.

"No I need you to hear this," Izuku pushed despite the dread that overtook him. He quickly scanned the area and saw a congregation of students come around to see what the commotion was. Izuku knew that with such a crowd, Bakugo would be unable to actually hurt him. He was going to take this chance to get everything off his chest.

"A hero is someone who protects others! Someone who inspires the best qualities of humanity. All I'm seeing from you is someone who lords themselves over the weaker man! You think it's heroic to beat someone down just because? Well I could hardly care less about you anymore! I have worth and it isn't by your approval it's by my own and by the people who love me!"

"You're pathetic! You think you can talk to me like this because there are people around? I'll show you just how worthless you are by blowing you up in front of them! Let's see if anyone comes to your rescue!"

Izuku gasped in fear as Katsuki created and explosion near his shoulder. He screamed as he stumbled back from the blow. The assault continued and no matter how much he tried to keep his position he stumbled further and further until he fell down, a looming Katsuki over him. He looked past the bully and saw no one making a move to stop him. A few people whispered in worry but they didn't even try but some people were down right enjoying this scene. He felt something inside of him break and he didn't even know what it was that he lost except he could feel it shattering. All the fear inside of pain left him and instead it was left with a numb cold.

"You're all scum," he mumbled.

"What did you say you-"

" **You're all scum! Every single one of you!"**

Izuku wheezed as he struggled back to his feet and moved past Bakugo. The crowd started whispering and looking warily at him from emotions ranging from anger to guilt. Something broke inside of him. They didn't have faces anymore. They all blended together into a dull lifeless, nameless crowd. After staring them down with a look of utter contempt Izuku had left the scene.

He did not care for the curious looks of the strangers he walked by. They no doubt saw how beaten down he was but he just didn't have the energy to be self-conscious. The walk had been painful but Izuku focused on the pain rather than dwell on it. It was a welcome, familiar pain compared to the gnawing feeling of disgust clawing at his heart, breaking into his very soul and leaving him bitter. Subconsciously he found his way to Torio's lab. He had his own key-card to enter now. Moving was gruelling what with his legs in excruciating pain as he gripped the rails and walked down-stairs.

"Why the fuck aren't you at school?" Torio yelled at him before he paused with one look at the boy.

Something broke in Izuku as he looked at Akiyoshi. His worth being completely rejected was even more painful after finding out that he was useful for the first time. Izuku finally cried as he crumpled to the floor. His hate completely dissipated leaving him feeling so infinitely small. When a warm body pressed against his in what was a hug, Izuku couldn't help but cling on with all his might as he wailed. He let out all his emotions, everything he had held deep down inside, everything he had bottled up and tried to forget.

Akiyoshi didn't do hugs but this case was an exception. He had not expected to see Izuku until 4 in the afternoon and he didn't expect him to come in so completely bruised. He had seen bruises and burn marks carefully hidden on the boy before but this looked incredibly bad. That wasn't even what made him furious. If Izuku had come in with a beating before he would have simply told the boy to become stronger or face more of it. No- what angered him was the look of complete devastation on the once hopeful face. Izuku held a certain innocence to him that Akiyoshi admired and was completely fascinated by. Certainly he had lost that expression much earlier in his childhood than Izuku had but during his time with the boy that innocence, that idea that the world was still redeemable, had made the boy so endearing. To see it completely shattered made his blood boil.

He wrapped his arms around the crying boy and made sure he knew there was a comforting embrace to hold him. He had expected this day to happen. No one with the misfortune of being born quirkless was exempt from the day whatever hopes they had would be shattered. It hurt simply to watch the boy because it was almost like he was watching himself. Although he knew this was for the better, that in the criminal business that you could not help but loose that innocence, Torio could not help but regret it for Izuku. He was also mourning the loss.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"I-I don't know!" Izuku cried face still buried in his trench coat.

Torio did not even worry about the tears and snot he would have to clean away from his villain costume like he usually would in a situation like this, instead his attention was solely on the boy.

"Was it that Kaachan of yours?"

"No… y-yes? I don't know. He hit me and I-I stood u-up f-for m-m-myself like y-you t-told me to. P-People were w-w-watching and t-they d-didn't even help! Am I-I really w-worthless?!"

"If you were worthless would I have kept you around?"

"N-no?"

"If you were worthless could you have thwarted the 2nd best hero and saved me?"

"No…"

"That answers your question then so stop crying like a little pussy. You aren't a little bitch are you?"

"No"

He watched the 12 year old pull away and wipe his tears as he futilely tried to stop the hiccups that followed. Once again Torio was reminded of how young this boy was and was a little worried, although silently grateful, that this boy's parents were letting him roam around so freely. He wouldn't ask about it as it wasn't really relevant to his work but that didn't mean he hadn't taken note of the amount of freedom the boy seemingly had. Either his parents didn't care or they really trusted him.

"You know if it really makes you feel better I can fuck that boy up a little, maybe even put a bullet through his skull."

"W-what no!"

"Jeeze I was just kidding. Take a fucking joke will ya? You know I don't kill snot nosed brats which is why I haven't put a bullet through your head yet."

Izuku laughed as he took the que and wiped the snot from his nose. Now that all that crying was out of his system he did feel a bit better. He hugged the reluctant man again before he decided that all this emotional touchy-feely things weren't really the villain's strong suit and he wouldn't push his luck.

"Just so you know I'm not a shrink so don't feel the fuck free to do that again."

Izuku nodded but smiled at how tsundere Torio was being. He knew the man didn't take the 'happy' sort of emotion well and neither the 'sad' kind either. He was most comfortable keeping all that locked up way inside where the light don't shine and maybe occasionally shit that out in private. Still Izuku knew that there was no bite to the man's harsh words. It was just simply the way he coped with emotions.

"You know maybe I'll take you up on that offer from before."

"Not going to happen you sly little fucker"

"Hey you offered"

* * *

I actually don't hate Bakugo's character in BNHA but he is still a pretty vile person. If I ever met someone like him in real life the last thing I would be is inspired. Also I have a plot for this and it is going somewhere but it's sooooooo slow burn that it's almost snail paced. You probably have to wait like another 30 thousand words before Izuku is finally a villain. XD

Thanks for the reviews Imperial warlord and Karlos1234ify. Yeah Izuku is going to see just how shitty humanity is but it'll take a while for it to sink in. I really need to break whatever faith he has left in people. Man I feel like a sadist. So I wrote a few more chapters and I actually cried while writing one. I was being so mean to Izuku I just felt like a sick human being. Izuku is just a sweet cinnamon bun and it feels like I'm torturing a bunny or something (T-T) …I'm a sick human being.


	5. You're Rich?

Quirkless!

* * *

Chapter 5

* * *

A few months had passed with Izuku basically avoiding anyone he could at school which was considerably easier now that he wasn't in Katsuki's grade. It certainly shocked everyone when he came in with a scowl rather than the usual carefree awkward smile. Katsuki even found himself backing off although he still made his distaste known. Izuku had threatened taking this abuse to the police and he shut up. Still the bombastic blond still wondered what exactly sparked so much confidence in the once shy, stuttering loser. He supposed it had something to do with this 'friend' he had mentioned a few months earlier. Bakugo was admittedly curious but his pride made it impossible for him to give Deku the time of day. Midoriya liked it exactly like that. The green haired boy was happy for once that his personal tormentor had moved on and all it took was a threat to the cops. If he had known this so before he would have done it much earlier but then again he thought he actually deserved this treatment before.

The few hours he had with Akiyoshi after school was the highlight of his day… well other than eating dinner with his mom. He loved his mother too much to prioritise anyone over her even if it was Akiyoshi. He had a separate phone to call Akiyoshi with since the man sometimes took his Villain-time during their allocated hours together. Izuku was just grateful that Akiyoshi never once asked him to actually join in the criminal activities. He helped plan them and helped get the villain out of several tight spots with his extra precautions but that was the extent of his help.

Izuku was currently lazing around in the lab, playing with a priceless pink diamond in his hands. He loved the lab and occasionally found himself playing with the chemicals despite Torio's warnings. The guy loved making poisons, gasses, lubricants, and dissolvers of all sorts so the chemicals were rather dangerous. Of course Izuku had read a million books on chemicals and their properties not only for school but to help make gadgets for the Trickster. He was playing around with hydrogen chloride by treating it with water. It wasn't as acidic as he intended it to be so it barely fizzled the plastic holding it. With a sigh he slumped into the chair wondering when Akiyoshi would come by.

"Didn't I fucking tell your bitch ass not to play with chemicals? God kid if it burns your face off it'll expose you for the little shit you are and we all know how that'll turn out."

"Y-you're angrier than usual," Izuku muttered. "What's happened this time?"

"Urgh my cunt for a big-sister's come to town but she did bring the only good thing about her; my niece."

Izuku blinked. He hardly knew anything about Akiyoshi's life but that was mostly because he never asked for his so he thought it was a sour topic. If he knew Akiyoshi was simply going to lay it bare on the occasion he wouldn't have been so conscious of his words. In all honesty he wasn't curious about the man's past until he had bought it up. It seemed irrelevant to their relationship in the present.

"Niece huh, sounds nice. I don't really have much family."

"Not even a sibling?"

"No"

"Fuck you're lucky. About the only thing Akio has done right is give birth to that angel."

"Wow I-I've never seen you fawn over anything but the occasional shiny rock. I really want to meet your nephew now," Izuku said a little shyly.

Apparently Akiyoshi was more than happy to simply take out a pic and show him. The child was pretty adorable so Izuku could understand the sudden fawning and blatant doting from the uncle. The 10 or so year old girl had short bobbed black hair, dark black eyes, pale skin, all things that should have been rather bland but her chubby features and the literal sparkles in her eyes made her instantly endearing.

"She is pretty cute," Izuku replied honestly.

"What'd you say about my baby?" Akiyoshi asked in a dangerous tone.

"I-I m-mean f-for a k-k-kid!" Izuku squeaked out.

"Are you saying she's not adorable?" Akiyoshi growled in increasing intensity.

"T-there's no winning is there?" Izuku cried.

Torio's expression instantly softened when he looked back at the picture and Izuku stopped fretting. He noticed that there was more to the story than was being said but he didn't want to ask. It seemed personal. The villains head shot up and looked at Izuku and the boy knew the man was going to ask for something he wouldn't like.

"You're coming with me to my office!"

"W-wait what?"

"My office. Are you deaf as well as a bitch?"

"Sheesh y-you don't need to swear just for that," Izuku mumbled, not liking the verbal abuse. "It was a rhetorical question."

"Rhetorical questions are for deaf idiots. Now put on this suit. We're going to my company."

Izuku caught the clothes. There was a white shirt, a dark forest green that matched his hair and suit pants the same colour.

"T-They're my size," he stuttered out with growing heat in his face.

"Yeah so what? Not even a word of thanks?"

"H-How did you know my size?!"

"Best not to ask some questions kid," Torio grunted before leaving the boy to the awkward question.

"Dick," Izuku muttered under his breath.

"I heard that! Don't blame me when you turn into a potty mouth too."

Izuku ignored the man as he undressed and put on the creepily perfect fitting suit. Overall he looked way too rich and professional. One look and he was sure the material was expensive and custom made. Not many suits came in the exact same colour as his hair. He was thankful for the vest rather than a blazer though. It was hot outside and he really didn't want to face whatever was coming looking like a sweating pig.

"Looking good there Deku," Torio complimented.

"I don't like that name," Izuku pouted.

"I don't know I kind of like it. If you wear it with pride like this suit it's kind of like saying 'fuck you world, I'm going to take this sissy insult and turn it into praise!'."

"O-Ok," he mumbled blushing madly.

"God you don't have to be so fucking girly every time I praise you. You're creeping me out kid."

"D-Don't say embarrassing things like that then!" Izuku screeched.

"Your such a pussy," Torio laughed as he moved behind the boy and looked at him from the mirror. Torio saw potential although he wouldn't admit it verbally (A/N he's such a tsundere -_-'). He took out the green bow tie and started working on the boy's collar. He didn't expect such a stiff reaction from Midoriya though. The boy went straight and stopped moving, eyes wide in unbelief. It made Torio wonder if he did something wrong. After putting some gel in the boy's hair and slicking it back he couldn't take the awkward silence anymore.

"Kid now you're freaking me out. What's wrong?"

"I… I just never had anyone do- this for me. I mean my dad, he- err- he isn't around much s-so this is r-really… special."

"Gah! You always ruin the good mood with some sappy shit," Torio grunted although he turned his face away to hide his welling happiness. No- he was not happy for something so menial! He kept silently telling himself he wasn't going soft as Midoriya silently laughed at how tsundere he was.

"Come on, this time we're taking the car," he grumbled as he led the boy out.

He followed the man to another room past the lab. He had never really gone up-stairs. It was Akiyoshi's house and Izuku knew the man had been trying to keep their relationship at least somewhat professional. He was however surprised to see a rather small garage but mostly at what was in it. Izuku gaped at the Rolls Royce Phantom in disbelief. Not trusting to speak he just got into the insanely expensive car and enjoyed how luxurious it was. He got in mechanically and they started the trip. The drive was mostly silent but Izuku felt he had to say _something._

"Your suit… it looks good on you too."

"Please, I don't need your amateur compliments. I already know I have style," Torio said although it was obvious he had enjoyed the compliment.

Izuku really did mean it though. He usually only ever saw Torio in his villain costume which was basically a green and orange colour schemed trench coat that hid too many chemicals, party tricks, and grappling hooks but nevertheless managed to look like camouflage vomit. In the pristine charcoal grey suit he was currently wearing he looked like an entirely different person altogether. He looked more… aristocratic. Izuku was suddenly feeling self-conscious. He didn't have the same chiselled face or high cheek bones. He was left with messy hair that was thankfully alright now that it was gelled back, freckled skin and a short build. In short he felt out of place amongst such riches.

His self-hate was cut short when the car stopped and Izuku stepped out with Torio. He was in awe the rather modern looking building made entirely of glass and the occasional straight pillar. He wasn't a fan of contemporary buildings styles but this had a certain charm to it that screamed comfortable yet still spoke about business. If the neatly trimmed hedges in the drive way was anything to say about what was to come Izuku was excited.

"I knew you were rich but this rich," he gasped.

"Close your mouth unless you want to swallow a fly."

"You didn't swear," Izuku pointed out in disbelief. He would have expected the man to say something more along the lines of 'shut your fucking mouth or shits going to get in'.

"I don't make it a habit to speak like I normally do during business hours. Could you imagine the shit I would have to fill out for verbally abusing a client or business partner?"

"So you admit it is verbal abuse!" Izuku exclaimed finally catching the man on his habit.

"You two seem pretty close."

The green haired boy's attention turned to the feminine voice and was greeted by what looked like the female version of Akiyoshi. The woman, Akio if Izuku remembered correctly, was beautiful and more so in a way that Akiyoshi could not imitate. She looked soft-spoken and well-mannered with a slight submissive tilt to her head. It sent the blood rushing to Izuku's cheeks.

"Oh great it's you," Akiyoshi grumbled.

"You're such a mean otouto. Why don't you introduce me to your child?"

"He's not mine for the last time! He's my intern!"

 _Intern?_ Izuku raised a brow at that but decided not to question it. He would go along with whatever Akiyoshi deemed fit for now. Even he didn't know what exactly to call his relationship with the man. Sidekick? Accomplice? Ally? That random kid who he let tag-along for god knows what reason? It didn't matter because he trusted the man wouldn't do anything too rash. Still his brain nearly short-circuited when the lady turned to him.

"Oh my how rude of me to not introduce myself. Midoriya Izuku-chan, am I right? My name is Akio and I'm this man's big-sister. My daughter Akino is waiting for us inside."

"Y-y-y-yes!" Izuku all but screamed.

Akiyoshi just gave Izuku an incredulous look but the boy was still internally freaking out and his face was still a bright red. Izuku couldn't believe he had _talked_ to a pretty lady! He felt his brain heat up in overdrive as he mechanically followed behind the siblings. His mind went on overdrive with just how odd the situation was.

The building was… modern. The ceiling was high, most of the light came from the large windows letting in the natural light, and the floor was the cleanest pearl marble he had seen. People scarcely walked around without a folder or some sort of purpose, probably from the task they had been given. Izuku, unused to the business setting, being only a 12 year old, was in awe of the alien scene he was witnessing. Everyone was so uniformed, despite the different suits unhindered by a dress-code, and it all seemed so mature. His childish mind revelled in how much his own attire seemed to fit in with his foreign surroundings in spite of the novelty of the circumstances. His attention turned to the outlier within the scenery; a little girl with long black hair, the same dark obsidian eyes, wearing the most flamboyant neon pink dress. Amidst the business attires and looks of matured faces she seemed to stick out like a foreigner yet she didn't seem to heed it any mind.

"Uncle-Aki!" she all but screamed as she jumped into his arms.

Izuku was a shocked, and secretly jealous, when instead of side-stepping and letting the girl face-plant, the man instead held his hands out willing her into the embrace. For a split second the jealousy was almost blinding before Izuku realised that this girl was Akiyoshi's niece and someone he cherished. He couldn't bring himself to hate her.

"Look who's sticking out from the crowd! Midoriya you should learn a little," Akiyoshi praised.

Izuku frowned as he looked down at his outfit, suddenly self-conscious. He let out an exasperated sigh considering it was the clothes Akiyoshi picked out in the first place. His attention was drawn back to the Akio when she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Now, now brother is that a way to treat your intern?" she asked with the sweetest smile.

Izuku felt a chill crawl down his spine. Her words, although sweet, held a threat of violence behind them. She was like candy on the outside but once you took a bite you'd realise she was poison. If it weren't for the fact that her anger was directed towards her brother right now Izuku would have shat himself out of fear.

"H-hey let's take the hostilities elsewhere," Akiyoshi grumbled although he was sweating from fear. "For now I need to go to that meeting. Midoriya you'll take care of Aki-chan right?"

The boy could only numbly nod as the two siblings left him with the wide eyed girl. He was on guard. If her whole family were Tsunderes and Yanderes he couldn't afford to be unprepared. She looked innocent enough but then again her mother looked like she could do no harm at first glance.

"So Akino-chan, a-are you enjoying the trip?"

"Yeah I love trips! Uncle always gives me some cool stuff although you shouldn't tell okaa-san I told you that. Here look he bought me a Taper and a Ninja star!"

"Akino-chan that's a Taser and that s-shuriken is really sharp!" Izuku fumbled as he put the dangerous equipment back into her bag.

 _What the heck is he giving his niece?!_

"U-um maybe Akio-san is right a-and y-you shouldn't play with those things," Izuku stuttered.

"You're probably right! A birdy went to sleep after I played with a glub? …Gun!"

 _He gave her a gun!_

"So Akino-chan you- um- you want to do something?"

"Let's play!"

Izuku sweat dropped. Her uncle was a tsundere, her mother was a yandere and she was super straight forward. He could practically see the stars in her eyes. No wonder why she was so endearing to Akiyoshi.

"Izu-kun"

"Y-yeah?"

"You're hair looks like funny leaves."

 _I take that back_

* * *

"Out of all the stupid things you've done this has got to take the cake."

Akiyoshi gave his sister a death glare although on the inside he was freaking out as much as her. She turned to her brother with a sweet smile, her eyes shining with promise of pain which swiftly shut him up.

"The kid practically shot himself into my life. I gave him chances to leave and he didn't take them."

"Why do you think I don't let Akino see you often? You'd drag her into this unhealthy shit-show of yours but it seems you've already found another kid. What's keeping you from simply throwing him back to his ordinary life?"

Akiyoshi sighed as he dragged his fingers through his hair. "I don't expect you to understand but he's quirkless. I wanted to leave him out of this the first time he saved my life but he was desperate. I excessively swore at his face and he still begged for me to let him stay…"

"Don't tell me you've grown a soft spot," Akio laughed.

"Dammit!"

"Office space remember," she reminded him. "You're little stunt with the recent hostile takeover of Prazair Cooperation's has my client's interest. It's a mystery how you got in and out. He wants to know your informer and I'm hard pressed to give the details of a twelve year old quirkless civilian."

Sliding into the chair the quirkless villain groaned and ran a hand through his hair. He did not want to have Midoriya catch the interest of criminals. Those who operated silently were even more dangerous than the flashy villains who fought heroes. In the world of adults it was silent business transactions, hostile over-takings conducted with sweet words, and fights traded with sneaky manoeuvres all under the pretence of law. In this world his sister flourished and he suffocated. He preferred the straight forward rivalries of heroes and villains and hated the convolutions of the dreaded grey area.

"And can I have the name of this client of yours?"

"You're lucky this time otouto. Normally I wouldn't be at the pleasure of exposing cliental details but this is an exception to the case. I didn't particularly enjoy my dealings with this group."

"Group?" Akyioshi asked as he perked up. "Are they enemies of CHEM?"

"You're company not so much; they do however not like your little Trickster side."

"Just spit it out already! You don't even need to be worried about someone overhearing us! This room is sound-proofed!"

"You take the fun out of guessing. Well little-brother I'm sure even you wouldn't be hard pressed to have heard the name 'The League of Villains'."

"Of course I've heard of them. I've _met_ one of them unfortunately. They've recently been recruiting members if I am correct," Akiyoshi said with a snarl. He rubbed his temples in irritation although internally he was screaming out cuss words. "If my sources are right they aren't to be trifled with. That _man_ after all works with them."

"That _man_ is their leader. He isn't Voldemort you know. You can say his name," Akio laughed.

"He's not my _sensei_ so why should I call him as such? That fucker should be called the he-who-is-a-demented-fuck. His sense of villainy doesn't even make sense! Tear down the symbol of peace?! He's got to be fucking kidding me. All Might may as well be a god. We should be happy he isn't a villain but rather a hero."

Akio let out a despondent sigh. Her brother was weird that way. She remembered him growing up looking at heroes with wide wonderful eyes. He wanted to be just like them but for all the wrong reasons.

* * *

" _Onee-chan I'm going to be the strongest just like All-Might and then I can beat everyone up!"_

" _I don't think that's the point of being a hero Otouto," Akio sighed as she rubbed the bruise forming on her arm. "Plus you're quirkless so you can't be strong."_

 _Akiyoshi looked almost like he was about to cry but he held his tears in quickly. His small body sprang up surprising his sister as he ran out. She quickly followed behind saying she was sorry although she didn't really mean it. She just didn't want her brother to hurt himself because she would be blamed._

" _What are you doing? I said I was sorry so stop hitting the tree! You're going to bleed!"_

" _I don't care! I'm going to become strong so that I can do whatever I want!"_

" _That's not how it works!" she cried in frustration._

" _Then I can punch mom and dad and they won't hurt you anymore! It doesn't matter if they have strong quirks! I'll rise above them and I'll protect you!"_

* * *

Her eyes trained on her brother. He had proven himself the day he had killed their parents. It was calculated and silent… something she knew her brother hated. He had always wanted to be the straight forward guy who simply pushed through lives troubles but he was born so unfortunately unequal to those around him that he had to compensate. He did not have the physical strength to simply plough his way to freedom so he tricked his way around it.

His eyes were running through the plans already and she saw it, the incredible hate, that simmered between the surface. He hated the world. Everything he did was to show the world how much he could overcome it. In a weird way she knew his relationship with Izuku, whatever it may be, was simply another way for him to show the world he had won its game.

"They don't know Midoriya is a quirkless 12 year old so of course they'd want to be in on a good informant," he rationalised. "Unfortunately for them you can give them my message."

Akio watched amused as her brother started scribbling something with a green crayon out of all things. She took the paper after a minute of waiting and her façade of coolness nearly faltered into a full blown laugh. He had so _eloquently_ written down 'suck my' with a picture of a dick next to it.

"You can't really expect me to hand this over to the _league of villains_ do you? I didn't know you wanted me that dead," she snorted.

"They touch a strand of hair on your head and they'll be asking for an all-out prank war which involves some unsavoury death scenarios."

"I wouldn't expect anything less"

* * *

Woah this was the most uneventful chapter in the whole goddamn history of human kind. Sorry about that but it's kind of setting the scene for the events that'll happen later. Sorry for the wait guys but I had like three exams lined up in a row and I was too stressed to post anything up. On the lighter note I practically finished my HSC so suck it High-school we're breaking up and I'm going out with University next year! Yeah!

I've got HSC notes for ADV English, Mod/Anc/Ext History and Visual Arts if anyone needs it. Just pm me so I can send it to you cause I feel bad deleting notes that I put so much effort to write. Also I'm that OCD nerdy type so all my notes are colour coded and are extremely organised.

Yeah also I solemnly swear that I will not add any more important OC's into the story! Akio and Akino are the last two! They're also not going to be too important as the story progresses but they will be important for the plot progression so it's not like I'm adding them in for no reason.


	6. You Have Friends? Yes I do Mom!

Quirkless!

* * *

Chapter 6

* * *

Izuku was a little hurt that his mother didn't trust him when he told her that he was friends with someone… although it made sense that she didn't believe he was friends with the _CEO_ of CHEM labs. Of course she hadn't heard about CHEM, so she couldn't have known how big of a billionaire he was, but she still saw the expensive car and her Izuku in a suit and figured something was wrong. Despite this she still allowed the man into her home. Izuku let Akiyoshi explain the situation. He had known the villain for nearly a year now and it felt wrong to simply keep this knowledge from his mother.

"So you've taken Izuku in as an intern? How do you know my son? I'm sorry if I'm coming of as rude but Izuku-chan here never tells me anything and if he's making friends with strangers I need to know."

Izuku winced but otherwise kept his mouth shut. He had been meaning to break this new friendship with Akiyoshi to her but he had no clue how. His whole relationship with the man revolved around helping a wanted villain. He didn't think his mother would take that knowledge well. Akiyoshi however was surprisingly polite, although Izuku had suspected the man to have put on his business face.

"Not a problem. He does have a little trouble with the concept of 'stranger danger' but thankfully I mean your son no harm. He is an interesting child."

"So how did you meet?" Inko asked, her earlier fear slightly easing at how polite the man was.

"Midoriya-kun here pulled me out of the way during a hero battle and saved my life. I would have left it at that but I happened to catch his notes on heroes and we had a talk. I realised just how much of a geek he was."

"Torio-san, I'm not a geek," Izuku meekly protested with growing embarrassment.

"We became acquainted and it so happened that I take a walk back home around the same time he leaves from school. He told me he wanted to get into Sumato Gakuen and I figured he would have liked to see my state of the art lab. He proved just how much of a geek he was and I decided who better to take over my company than him?"

Izuku felt his world pause as he looked at the older man in disbelief. How could he have sprung such ludicrous information at him now of all times? He even noted the look of disbelief cross his mother's face too before it broke into a bright yet wary smile.

"I am extremely humbled that you want Izuku to have such a high-position but do you not have any family to take over? A man with your looks would most definitely have a wife."

"I can understand your confusion but I assure you that I have no family… well none that want to take over the company anyway. Izuku has a brilliant mind and I'm sure he'll excel in business."

Inko was over the moon, in cloud nine, high-fiving Jesus, achieving Nirvana, and overall any other metaphorical representation of the emotion associated with overjoyed. Her son, the son that wanted oh so stupidly to become a hero, was finally fulfilling his true potential. She always knew her Izuku was smart and it ached her heart to know the one thing he wanted to do was something he could not. Any other field he would have chosen, she could see her son acing with flying colours. He was a genius and life seemed to poke fun at it by making him want the one job where it wasn't just enough to be a genius. To see her son finally push through the hero phase and fulfil what great achievements she knew he could, filled her with joy. She could say that Izuku had completely overdone her expectations too. Here he was the heir to a company at the age of 12!

"U-Um Mrs Midoriya, don't cry," Akiyoshi fumbled.

"Ah- i-it's okay. She's happy," Izuku fumbled as he went to hug his mother.

"Oh Izuku I knew you were meant for great things!"

"Y-yeah…"

Izuku frowned as a pain flared in his chest. This wasn't greatness. This was weakness. He had given up on the one dream that mattered to him. If he couldn't prove his strength then he would forever be 'Deku' and that in itself made him recoil in disgust. No amount of wealth and riches would replace a dream.

It took a while before he was alone with Akiyoshi again. He noted the villain was a little disgruntled by how much pampering Inko provided after the explanation. Izuku did not understand why he was so at unease with the motherly affection but decided not to push it. For all this relationship meant to him, Izuku knew he didn't care for Torio's past. The man, no matter what he had done or experienced, was the best thing that had happened to him. He had never had such support before, never had someone to praise him, no matter how crudely, when he made an analysis or pointed out a flaw in a quirk, and never before did he have someone to laugh and freely be himself with. Even in front of his mother, no matter how much he loved her, he still had to pretend to be someone else. With Akiyoshi there was none of that fear of rejection. They were the same.

They were both quirkless and powerful despite it

As far as Izuku was concerned that was all that mattered about the man's past. He could figure out the rest for himself if he wanted to but he knew one thing that resonated with the both of them; power. Izuku didn't know whether it was the want for power in itself or for the power to do something. In a life full of powerlessness, when the cruel world pushed you around not for your character but a quirk you were or weren't born with, all that mattered was the power to overcome it. Izuku found that power in Akiyoshi. In a way the boy's life had slowly begun revolving around the man.

When they were finally outside and away from his doting mother Izuku finally let out his emotions. He bare hugged the man although he could barely embrace his whole body with such small arms. He didn't care if Akiyoshi didn't like hugs. He cried out tears of gladness.

"Yeesh both you and your mom are such cry-babies," he said although there was no bite in his words but rather a sort of soft longing.

"Y-you m-m-made me h-heir! Y-You didn't e-even tell me," Izuku said through sobs as he weakly punched the man's arm.

"Hey kid, you've more than proved how capable you are. We may be quirkless but you know power comes in different forms. I'm giving you this power. You wanted to be a fucking hero right?" he asked.

"Y-yeah"

"How about something better? How about you dream to become the Hero Course Director? You know boss them around with your infinite wealth and fame and show those bullies of yours how much of a tough cunty boss you can be?"

"S-sounds boring," Izuku laughed as his sobbing ceased.

"Yeah thought as much. Don't get into politics Deku, it'll screw you over," he laughed before he put on a serious face. "Do whatever you want, heck be a fucking spandex wearing hero if you want to. I won't stop you. Just find some a good way to say 'fuck you' to the world that kicked you down. Trust me it'll be the most enjoyable feeling once you've overcome the game that is life."

"I'm g-going to be the final boss," Izuku exclaimed.

"Heh, just make sure the hero doesn't end up beating you"

"Have you played dark souls?"

"Point taken"

With that odd conversation coming to an end Izuku waved of the billionaire and went back to his home. He found a small smile lighten his features when he saw his mother happily humming. He had always made her worry. He had always been a burden. His once slim, beautiful mother had grown round from stress-eating because of him. He knew it was hard for her to find anyone romantically after having him. It was considered ill luck to have given birth to a quirkless son. No one would want to marry her after him and Izuku was just surprised and extremely grateful that his mother hadn't abandoned him or better yet aborted him when she had heard he had a high chance of being born quirkless. Any other parent would have treated him like a defect but his mother was not just anyone. She was the kindest, most soft spoken, loving soul Izuku had ever seen.

"I'm so happy for you dear. My son the heir to a billionaire's company," she chuckled as she hugged her son.

Izuku hugged back and enjoyed the warmth. He wanted to pretend that the situation was as simple as that and it wasn't a villain that taken him under his wing. He realised he didn't care that Akiyoshi was a villain anymore because he was more a hero to him than All Might ever was, but he didn't want his mother to know. If she knew this illusion of complete joy she was facing would shatter and Izuku hated seeing his mother sad because of him.

No he would protect her no matter what.

* * *

In the few months he had with them, Izuku had become well acquainted with both Akio and Akino. He loved Akino-chan's company the most. The little girl was adorable, inquisitive, and so endearingly innocent. Although Akiyoshi wouldn't admit it he realised that Izuku greatly resembled his loveable niece in all those characteristics. He loved the way his new heir would genuinely play without embarrassment with his smaller niece. Any other kid his age would have turned their nose up and thought it beneath them to pretend to be doctors yet Izuku was unashamedly playing with Akino like a little kid. The boy only grew in his excitement when he found out that Akio and Akino had quirks.

"Whoa so Akio-san has cellular-regeneration abilities and Akino-chan can numb a person's pain receptors! That's awesome. How did you turn out quirkless when you're sister has such a cool ability?!"

Akiyoshi twitched in annoyance at that brash comment but simply decided to hold himself back. He was currently running Izuku through the basic principles of business but it seemed the boy would much rather be talking about quirks.

"If it weren't for the fact that Akio's quirk caused more pain than good I would've been insulted."

"S-sorry about that," Izuku apologised. "What do you mean it caused her more pain?"

"That's not something for me to tell you. It's her personal issues but as it seems that you can't help but be distracted I'm going to talk to a broker."

"A broker?"

"Yeah, unfortunately it seems there have been some underhanded transactions happening within my own company and not the ones that I agreed to."

"How does that even work? Don't you choose what to outsource to your clients?" Izuku asked.

"So you were listening," Akiyoshi praised. "Yes and no to your question. There are too many facets to my company's chemical and medical brands. We monopolise on plenty of medical treatments for instance but sometimes the government doesn't subsidise the product and we end up having to make a set quota and end up not selling half of it… hence why some medicine costs a fortune."

"What's government subsidies have to do with underhanded transactions?"

"Say you end up illegally giving the rest of the medicine out at a lower price under my nose. What happens?"

"People get medicine for cheaper?" Izuku asked.

"No, I lose profit and the price for the medicine goes up further, because we have to make up for the profit loss. Business isn't a charity. At first glance it sounds almost helpful to sell the medicine cheaper and illegally but it ends up doing more harm in the long run."

Izuku frowned but understood the concept. While it seemed harsh it was sadly the reality of life. Those who had the money could help themselves and those who did not would be forced to try other means, suffer and follow the law, or hope and pray that the government would spend tax payer money on the things they needed.

"Normally I wouldn't be going to catch the culprit as the Trickster but it so happens that we have some corporate espionage happening in CHEM labs. It's sad but the truth it we did end up pissing on a lot of people and ruining businesses when I staged a hostile take-over on my business competitor Prazair Cooperations a few months back. It screwed over a lot of board managers from the company."

"Hostile take-over?"

"Short story is that I found some illegal business transactions happening, black-mailed the CEO Tamon Tatsuko. He's currently bankrupt but he's been known to hold grudges."

"So you're going to k-kill him?" Izuku asked queasily.

"Kill him? No, not really. Make his life a living hell- yes. If I killed him I would be a suspect in his murder and that would draw unnecessary attention."

"Wait a second, so this guy has spies in your company and you aren't freaking out?!" Izuku exclaimed.

"Nope not really. Believe it or not my company follows all legal protocols to a tee. Anything we may have done that was slightly immoral to increase profit margins all have legal loopholes my lawyers have already outlined. I leave most of the illegal side of things to the Trickster. You best remember this if you plan on joining the villainy business. Keep your alter egos separate like the two sides of your ass cheeks."

Izuku raised a brow at the metaphor but decided to take the advice nonetheless. Whenever Akiyoshi was in his business suit there was hardly any swearing but sometimes the man would accidently break character. It had caught him off guard at first but he soon got used to the drastically different attitudes the man had when he was out or in costume. Izuku was finding himself actually enjoying the business studies course he was taking from Akiyoshi. It made him feel like he had worth, like he was aiming for something important, and that he wasn't the useless anymore. Here he wasn't 'Deku'. Here was the heir to CHEM labs with the proud name of Midoriya Izuku.

"So you're leaving?" Izuku asked.

"What did you think I was going to wait for a kiss on the cheek and a goodbye? Of course I'm leaving. You'll find my bitchy sister and the beautiful Aki-chan down at the office next to mine. I'm sure she's itching to have you take Akino out of her hands for a while."

"S-sure thing!" Izuku squeaked.

He did not know how to talk to Akio at all. The lady was beautiful, older, and exuded a sort of powerful aura that he had never seen before. It wasn't traditional power. She wasn't domineering at first glance. She was actually rather cute and submissive looking but she used that to get her way around men. Izuku saw how she had the male workers wrapped around her fingers, practically wagging their tails for their new 'master'. If he hadn't already known her quirk 'Regenerate' he would have thought having men fall for her was her quirk.

Despite how scary she was and how he could barely talk to her without blushing and stuttering like an idiot, Izuku really did like her. She was nice albeit a little scary if you got on her bad side. Her domineering side was mostly directed towards older men and she didn't seem to act sweet to Izuku or Akino which made the boy relieved. He wouldn't know what to do if a pretty older woman started acting suggestively to him. It was the fact that she had a soft spot for children that allowed the still socially awkward boy to muster up the courage to put together a sentence. He fixed up his green vest and pulled up his black tie before entering.

"H-h-hey A-Akio-san," he stuttered as he opened the door.

"Hello Izuku-chan," she replied with a smile.

"Izukun!" Akio exclaimed as she ran up to the older boy and hugged him. "I was so bored! Okaa-san didn't allow me to watch tv!"

"Too much tv isn't good for you," Izuku agreed with a small frown. "Why don't you help your mom with work?"

"Fine, you're no fun," Akino mumbled as she went back to help tape some boxes.

"Izuku-chan, aren't you meant to be in a lesson with Akiyoshi right now?" Akio asked.

"W-well h-he- um- said something about corporate espionage a-and left," Izuku stuttered.

"Seems like he was slacking off running the company," she snarled. "If he still wants to be business partners with me he should really upgrade his security."

"U-um Akio-san, y-you d-don't work for Torio-san?"

"Oh gods no! I hate this company so I gave it to him after our parents were killed. However I was the one who taught him the ways of business to get him up and running while I worked on building up my own company Med-X. I'm only here because we're business partners."

"W-wow t-that's pretty cool," Izuku said with a genuinely curious smile.

"It's not as big as CHEM but then again it is a fairly new company. I've only owned it for 6 years while CHEM happened to be three generations old."

Izuku was excited that some of his questions were finally being answered. He helped Akio as he talked to her about her business. Soon he took on Akino in a game to see who could wrap the most boxes the quickest which made the girl's job more interesting and fun. After an hour or so Izuku found out that he sucked at wrapping boxes and that Akio, with her years of mastery, had done a much better quality and quantity of work than he had. Since he had no concept of pride anyway Izuku didn't mind accepting his defeat to the 10 year old.

"Akino-chan you want to play ano-" Izuku started before a loud sound caught him off-guard.

A piercing sound was followed by an unsurmountable force that flung his frail body like a rag-doll. The boy gasped as he grabbed Akino in a moments decision and took the burnt force of the blast. A shooting agony burnt through his head as he desperately tried to stay awake.

…And everything went blank.

* * *

So I did some research on how businesses work and the such but if things don't make sense it's because I don't own a business so I'm going off online research. Sorry for leaving you guys on a cliff-hanger but the plot is progressing towards another pivotal moment in Izuku's life towards his slow rise to villainy! It's close, so close I can almost smell it! Thanks for the reviews guys!

I'm editing the next chapter and it's going to be sooo interesting! I think… well I've tried to make it interesting anyway. I was going for a horror/thriller vibe with a new enemy and all that. I've always loved the underdog story where someone with absolutely no power has to find a way around it. I'm also a fan of the heroes journey and I like the formulae it brings to the story so I'm trying to use that. Leave a review on what you think. It helps me get a feel for what my readers do and don't like.


	7. The Modicum Of Change

Quirkless!

* * *

Chapter 7

* * *

The world seemed to come to certain clarity after a few agonising minutes of blurry hazes and a piercing sort of silence that screamed _wrong._ Izuku shakily stood up trying to ignore the painful ringing in his ear as he opened the door. It was a scene out of a horror movie. People's bodies lay bloody on the floor, losing limbs and frayed unimaginably, and some trapped on the far end of the building under rubble, their bodies mangled under the weight of the structure. Izuku could see their mouths opening screaming for mercy, their last moments held out with painful pleas for help, but he couldn't hear anything over the painful static in his head.

Almost as if to mock him, once he had gotten used to the painful ringing, it left in an instant, replaced with the haunting screams and cries of wounded workers. Izuku's mind cleared as he looked for Akio. He had released Akino from his grasp but he hadn't spotted the older woman anywhere. He scanned the room frantically and gasped at her state. The older woman was on the floor, her normally pristine dress-suit covered in a fine layer of white chalky dust and a trail of blood running from her horrible head wound. A piece of the metal pipe from the skeletal structure of the building had blown in the explosion and lodged itself through her head.

"Okaa-san!" Akino cried as she shook her mother.

Izuku moved closer but had to hold himself back from vomiting out of sheer disgust. The wound was closing around it rapidly making him squirm in disgust. His mind replayed over her quirks ability and he understood that if it healed with something in the way her brain would never be the same. He hastily knelt next to the wounded woman and grabbed the metal pipe. Steeling himself he yanked it out in one swoop. Blood and brain matter spluttered onto his hands and face.

"O-Okaa-san! Okaa-san!" Akino cried through wheezes.

 _Crap she saw that. I didn't have time to shield her view._

Izuku looked frantically at the girl and back at the bleeding woman whose head was thankfully repairing quickly. He had never been so happy that her quirk was regeneration. Izuku pulled her out of the destabilising room and called for Akino. He was so tired, his limbs felt like lead and his body was shivering from shock but he had to be strong for Akino.

"We will get you mother to safety b-but you need to come now. I know you can do it Akino-chan. You're a strong girl right?"

"Y-yes"

Thankfully Izuku had managed to convince the little girl to follow him despite his own worries. He had been dragging the older woman unceremoniously as he held her half up from her underarms and dragged her legs along. He heard a maniacal cackle of laughter echo through the rooms followed by screaming and begging. The sounds of bones being crushed and flesh tearing instantly set a feeling of dread through his body. His instincts screamed for him to _run_.

"Akino run ahead and hide!" he whispered harshly.

The girl's body shook but she nodded and ran ahead. Izuku resumed his efforts tenfold as he stumbled with the woman in his arms. The sound of laughing was getting closer and closer until it was only a room away. Izuku didn't have time. He was in the common office room which basically consisted of cubicle desks left and right that stretched identically to the end. Everyone in this section had most likely already run for the fire-exits by now. It quickly came to his mind that the more important individuals such as the board members and stock holders were located in the East Building where the bomb had exploded and where he had been not 3 hours ago. That shook him to his core, but even that revelation was beaten down when the cackling laughter echoed through the room. Izuku knew this was all he could have done. He hastily pushed Akio underneath a table, hiding her, before the door opened revealing a man with wild red hair holding a knife. His expression was set in a demented smile that spoke of madness.

"Oh lookey what I found! The heir, the heir!"

"W-Who are you?" Izuku asked, wiping the sweat trickling down his shivering form.

He needed to keep the mad man at bay. In a few minutes heroes and security personal would arrive… if they hadn't been already killed off. He knew that Akino and Akio were somewhere in this room and he needed to keep them hidden. He couldn't fight the obviously larger man with a machete for sure.

"I'm so hurt that you don't know me. It's Akiyoshi that ruined my beautiful company after all! Left me bankrupt and facing charges in court!"

Realisation dawned on the boy. Prazair Corporations had recently been taken down and Akiyoshi had mentioned that the CEO was known to hold grudges… coupled with the fact that the East-end building had been blown first he knew the man's identity.

"Y-you're Tamon Tatsuko t-the CEO o-of Prazair Cooperations," Izuku fumbled.

His heart sank as the man moved closer to him as he licked the blood on the knife. His smile grew even more blood-thirsty when he looked into the boy's wide, fearful eyes.

"Ooh you remember! Although I'm the former CEO now, after your fucking superior **ruined my life**!"

Izuku knew that he couldn't wait anymore. There wasn't much he could say to stall the ever looming man. Instead he prepared himself. He was so afraid but he couldn't freeze up- not now.

"You're hiding somebody~"

"W-what are-"

"-You can't hide it from me, I can hear their heart beats with my super hearing~"

Izuku went pale with alarm. He could deal with his own death but the thought of those two girls dying sent his mind reeling with rage and panic. He could not lose them. They were important to Akiyoshi and therefore important to him. He had only just made friends with Akino-chan and he'd never had any real friends before. No they were too important to lose. He would keep them alive if it meant going after a mad-man with a knife.

"Y-You h-have t-t-to kill me first!"

"My pleasure, _heir._ "

In that second Izuku let his mind work on overload. He analysed every single little detail on the man in the split second before he charged him. His body had tilted ever so slightly to the left suggesting he was going to swing with his right hand that didn't have the knife. Izuku, in the matter of a fragmented second, categorised every single scenario that could play thereafter, all sense of fear gone, left with only facts. He pushed underneath the jab and the man was titled too forward to be able to have a good balance. Using this to his advantage Izuku grabbed the man's back pushing it forward while his left leg pushed the man in the opposite direction. He had intended for the killer to slam face forward onto the ground but he had misjudged his weight and soon the man had tripped over pulling Izuku with him.

The boy frantically grabbed Tamon's coat, effectively pushing himself onto his back and forcing the man to land forward. Izuku panicked. This wasn't the ideal position as his weight could mean he would easily be toppled to the ground leaving him pinned and at the killer's mercy. He jerked off the man's back, lunged for the machete on the ground and shakily stood up, stumbling away from the killer. He held the machete out through shaking hands as he stood his ground.

"Not bad kid," Tamon laughed.

Izuku had been prepared for the man to jump at him again but instead the man's legs turned to the right and the man broke out in a run. A gnawing dread filled him as he realised where the man was running. He screamed in fear as the adrenaline coursed through him surged him forward. It was too late, the killer was larger and faster and he had reached Akino's shivering form before dragging her out. She was in his mercy, whimpering in fear as she shivered and sobbed uncontrollably.

"Let her go she's only a kid!" Izuku screamed as tears prickled his eyes.

Tamon looked at the child and his eye's widened before the maniacal smile took his face again. He let out a chilling laugh.

"T-This is _his_ kid?! Oh this is too good! I'll kill the heir and his child."

Izuku didn't bother to correct him. His mind was focused solely on the terrified face of the little girl he had befriended and played with. Her eyes were screaming for help. His body shook with anger and anxiety as he moved his hands to chuck the machete. He knew he had a good aim but was he ready to kill?

"Ah, ah, ah. You throw that knife and I'll blow up the other building."

"W-what?!"

"This is a remote detonator. It's connected to the south building which I blocked off. There are still innocent civilians trapped inside and I could kill them although that would be a shame. What do you say, the life of this girl, or the life of 200 innocent workers? Hmm?"

"W-why a-are you doing this?" he begged, his voice chocking in anguish.

"Why? WHY? BECAUSE I WANT HIM TO SUFFER! I WANT HIM TO WATCH AS EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE HE LOVES DIES AND CRUMBLES BEFORE HIS EYES!"

The smile had left the killer's face, left with a murderous snarl. Izuku wavered. The man's arms were going to Akino's neck in what looked like a motion to snap it. One look at the terror in her eyes and it was enough. Izuku threw the machete and in that split second Tamon pushed the button. As the killer fell down with a knife to his head another more violent explosion rang through the building, shaking its already brittle unstable structure. Izuku was thrown at a brick wall as the thunderous noise shook the building. He had grabbed Akino before crashing, protecting the sobbing child with his body as the debris of glass, wood and metal flung onto his back like shrapnel.

Then there was static

* * *

Akiyoshi had rode frantically back to his company when he was flung unexpectedly off his bike. The unexpected explosion momentarily caught him off guard but it didn't faze him compared to the gnawing dread in his chest. He didn't even care that he had come in his villain costume or that it could lead to his identity being revealed. When the broker had told him off the ingredients the x-CEO of Prazair Cooperations had purchased he knew what the man was planning in an instant.

In a fit of adrenaline he rushed over as quickly as possible to his company building only to witness the explosion of the South Building first hand. His heart sank when he noticed the East building had been reduced to rubble but some semblance of hope remained when he remembered Akio's office was in the Middle, and although would be affected by the blast, wasn't completely destroyed. He knew they still had hope.

He ran into the site despite the growing flames caused by the South Building. It had housed a number of chemical storage facilities and the fire was soon spreading rapidly into the connected middle and west buildings. He ran inside and shuffled through the flames and falling concrete with painful worry. His chest constricted as he thought of the images of his dead sister, niece and Izuku. He shook off those thoughts, instead focusing on what he could see.

He let out a breath of relief as he saw what was a body. The small figure was noticeable instantly as the green vest stuck out like a sour thumb amidst the fiery red flames. He scrambled over to Izuku in worry, not pushing the boy on his back like he would have otherwise done because of the large pieces of glass lodged deep inside. He was shocked to have found Izuku lying unconscious protectively curled around Akino's small shivering body. His back was bloody, his suit torn and large pieces of glass and metal had lodged itself into his back.

"Akino! Izuku! I need you to come with me," he said hastily. "Izuku, goddammit wake up! Now is not the time to fall unconscious!"

Green eyes slowly opened revealing how tired they looked. Akiyoshi felt his heart drop in worry but he couldn't waste time. If they stayed here any longer the smoke would affect their lungs and kill them. He needed them to get going.

"Where's Akio?"

"O-Okaa-san's o'vr there," Akino mumbled weakly as she pointed at the desk her mother was under.

"Can you move Izuku?"

"You said my first name," the boy laughed silently, voice weak.

"Now's not the time," Akiyoshi reproached although he noticed the boy wasn't really all there. He probably had a concussion and his legs looked worse for wear. "I'll take walking as a no. Dammit I'm going to have to come back for Akio. Akino-chan you need to follow me got it!"

"Yes!" she squeaked before hastily standing up.

Akiyoshi picked up the small boy in his arms before he started running with a dazed Akino following behind him. The building was falling apart but it was manageable to weave across when he knew it like the back of his hand. When they were finally outside Akiyoshi propped the wounded boy against a tree outside and gave the two children a worried once-over before deciding he needed to leave.

"The heroes aren't here so your uncle is going to save mommy okay," he said with a small reassuring smile.

"Y'r a villain? No uncle's a hero!"

Akiyoshi didn't have time to take the compliment/insult to heart but he gave his niece a loving smile before jumping in for his sister. He pushed through the dangerously falling debris and smoky air. His sister would be safe no doubt due to her regeneration capabilities but that only extended to her flesh and bones. She still needed air or her brain would be permanently damaged from the lack of oxygen. He rushed into the workers room finding her under the desk from before and noticed her head was bleeding. Instantly he understood why she hadn't just regenerated. Head wounds took time to heal and her body needed to be in a form of hibernation. He didn't have the time to wait for her to sleep it off. Sucking in a deep breath he slammed his hand hard on her face. She jolted up instantly with a gasp. Her wide, dazed eyes looked around in confusion at the crumbling world around her.

"W-What…where?"

"No time onee-san, we need to go."

He hoisted her up as he supported her with one hand around her waist while she clung to his shoulder. She was still dazed and he knew her quirk took a lot of energy which usually had her sleeping for days. Now was not the time for such luxuries though. The crumbling, smoke and fire had gotten worse. If hell looked like anything this was it. He made his way through the crumbling stairs, narrowly dodging a falling railing that would have blocked his exist. They were so close to the exit when he noticed the creaking sound of falling metal.

In one swift move he pushed her away.

"Otouto!"

Akiyoshi groaned in pain, vision hazy as he blinked it back to normal. Burning agony tore through his abdomen and he bit his lip till it bled to keep his scream from coming out. The moment he looked down he regretted it. A large metal pole had lodged itself into his stomach and he swore he saw his entrails hanging out. He wheezed in pain as he noticed the building crumbling further before coughing out blood.

"Oh god! Nonononononono," Akio screamed as she pulled at the giant underwired pole. It didn't budge and had lodged itself too deep too take out. Her mind knew it was futile but she refused to believe it and kept straining with all her strength against it.

"Go! I-I won't make it anyway," he wheezed through coughs.

"No I won't leave you! You're my _otouto_!" Akio screamed through tears as she heaved even more desperately at the pole.

"D-don't die with me idiot! Tell Akino-chan and Izuku-chan that I fucking love them and that I died saying fuck you to the world… with a smile on my face."

"Now's not the time for your stupid speeches!"

A falling concrete pillar broke their conversation and Akino felt the dread settle in her stomach. She knew the situation was futile. One look at the pained yet brave unrepentant smile on her brother's bleeding face and she knew that she had to leave. Tears fell out of her eyes as she stumbled away and a large pillar crashed onto his prone form.

Akio glimpsed his smile before she could see him no more. With a heavy heart and numbed steps she took through the suddenly silent crumbling world.

* * *

Izuku struggled under the wood that held him down. His back ached as his struggling tore his injuries deeper but he didn't care. Akiyoshi and Akio were inside and no one was doing anything! He needed to go in. Safety be dammed.

"Let me go! I-I need to save him! He ran in! He ran in again!"

"Kid, the fire's too dangerous!"

"Then you fucking go!"

"I'm made out of wood," Kamui Woods finally admitted.

"I don't fucking care! Let me go. I can't leave him in there! You don't understand! I can't live without him!"

Izuku's struggling ceased when a limping figure stumbled out of the building and fell into a heap. The hero released his grip on the boy who stumbled to the form of a heavily wounded Akio. Akino scrambled to her mother as well in sudden relief before she noticed something was _wrong_. Izuku looked into the woman's barely open, dull eyes and he just knew…

 _No_

"… No"

"H-he's dead"

"… No"

"Uncle Aki?" Akino asked still confused as she held Izuku's arms.

The boy flicked Akino away and stood up in rage. The little girl fell to the ground in confusion as she cried and her mother pressed her against her breast. Izuku still kneeling, blinked in shock and shook his head.

"NO! You're lying! He's going to come out. He's going to come out!"

Akio grabbed the boy's face and looked him in the eye as she cried. Her sobs wracked her body expressing her grief and Izuku stumbled back as he looked at the burning building.

"nononononononononono"

A hand went on his shoulder and Izuku vaguely recognised it as the hero's.

"Come on you should get medical attention. You did the best you could-"

" **NO! I did nothing!"** the boy screamed as he swatted away the hero's hand.

"…I did nothing! I should have run in! Why didn't you let me go in?!"

"It's not your fault," Kamui Woods began before the look of utter hatred from the boy caught him off-guard.

"It was YOUR FAULT! You did NOTHING! **NOTHING!** "

The words cut the hero deep but the look of hatred in the boy's eyes turned to desperate grief. Izuku crumbled to the floor as tears wracked through his body and he cried. His whole world had shattered. His decisions had cost the lives of 200 people and the one person that gave him hope had died

Akiyoshi was gone

* * *

.

.

.

Ooh I killed him (T-T). Sorry but not sorry! Thanks to all the people who reviewed and came up with theories on what would happen. Chimera-kuun was the closest though so kudos for figuring it out. He figured out that I would kill Akiyoshi off. I feel horrible cause I was just getting attached to his character myself. I made a whole backstory for him so it almost felt like I killed my own imaginary friend.

Thoughts? Did you feel sad or were you like 'meh, I wasn't that invested in him'. Anyway thanks for reading guys. :)


	8. The Will of the Dead

Quirkless!

* * *

Chapter 8

* * *

Akio Mako was scared. Her every move was scrutinised as the scenario of the events that happened was taken to record. Akiyoshi's crushed form was found with evidence to provide that he was the Trickster and the police were caught off-guard. No one knew how to react when a villain did what no hero had done at the scene. She had decided to play ignorant for both the sake of Izuku and Akino. If they were caught about knowing his status she would be put to jail for certain, Izuku's future would be ruined and Akino would find herself in the care of distant family members. No- Akio had made certain to play the ignorant sister who was grieving both her brother's sudden identity reveal and his death.

She was grieving but it was not because he was a villain. Akio was grieving because the one family member, other than her daughter, that mattered had died… saving her. She felt the guilt gnawing at her heart but she persevered for the living. Both Akino and Izuku needed her now. She transferred the children to a private hospital which Midoriya's mother was grateful for. They were all given a run-down of what exactly happened that day. Akio realised she owed Izuku a lot more than he knew. He had confronted the bomber, kept both of them safe, and shielded Akino from the shrapnel that would have otherwise killed her daughter. For all his efforts Akiyoshi still died and out of all of them it had hit Izuku the hardest.

He had not said anything for a week unless it was someone asking him for a report on the events that happened. The moment they asked him for Akiyoshi's relationship with him and his involvement he clamped up. The mention of her late brother's name in itself pulled him into a daze, leaving him blinking wide eyed in silent fear as if he was trapped inside his own night-mares.

Her daughter had a much different reaction; she cried for hours when she finally realised the concept of death. Akio had been there to tell her that they would never see Akiyoshi again and for the little girl whose uncle was a 'cool hero' it was a loss of an important person in her life.

Akio had simply bottled up her feelings. There was no time to be showing such weakness. She would cry in her own personal time but the moment people surrounded her she was back to business. Her heart ached with a sudden loneliness but she could push through it. Currently she was doing just that. She walked into Izuku's room with her daughter and an executer official by her side. She noted the heavy look of worry on Midoriya Inko's face and nodded her recognition. Izuku was sitting on the hospital bed shirtless as his chest and back were covered in bandages. The shrapnel would leave scars but thankfully it didn't do any lasting damage.

"I have his will here," she finally said through a heavy breath.

Izuku's usually blank expression caught a glimmer of recognition as he turned his head to really look at her for the first time in a week. Akio saw the despair in his eyes and felt her throat dry up, almost like a stone was lodged in it and she couldn't swallow.

"He has one letter he wanted you to read privately and another to sort out the technicalities," she explained as she handed him the private letter. The boy took it with sudden tears in his eyes that he quickly rubbed off.

"Do you want me to read them out loud?" the executor asked the woman.

"Yes"

"I Akiyoshi Torio hereby pass all claims, shares, company assets and duties of CEO of CHEM labs to Midoriya Izuku in the event of my death. Should I die before Midoriya Izuku's 21st birthday all these claims will be held with my sister Akio Mako until he is of age, and should she be unavailable, to my friend Sasoro Fumiyaki. In the event that all these parties are unable to take these claims, I will hold my shares frozen for my niece Akino Mako.

"My house will be claimed by my sister Akio Mako as well as my cars and all my worldly possessions inside of it. Should she not take care of my… eh- _pretty babies_ in the garage I will file all claims of her ownership to Akino Mako."

Izuku couldn't help but cringe at the so obviously Akiyoshi attitude to his cars within the formal will. Instead of making him smile like it would have when the man was alive it instead felt like someone was twisting a knife in his heart. He gripped the sheets until his knuckles went white but otherwise didn't say anything. Akino had put a comforting hand on his own but even that didn't stop the aching pain and that desperate feeling of loss.

"Is that all?" Akio asked.

"Yes, other than that, he had written personal letters to you, Akino Mako, Midoriya Izuku, and Sasoro Fumiyaki."

"I'd like to take mine and my daughter's, thank you," Akio said as she swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Yes I'll hand them to you at the front desk."

Akio turned to usher Akino to her side before giving Izuku a sad smile. The boy didn't look at her, solely focused on the letter in his hand with a pained expression on his scrunched face. His hair was in disarray and his normally bright expressive viridian eyes took a dead tone with heavy dark circles. She knew he hadn't slept but also that her worry was unwanted. Izuku had his own mother to look after him and she blamed herself for the death of the boy's idol.

Izuku looked at the letter and then back at his mother. She had come closer to give him a hug and he returned it with a heavy heart. He only had her now and he didn't even deserve her. If she knew how worthless he was she would not love him. He hadn't been enough. He had caused the deaths of 214 civilians. If he had a quirk maybe he could have stopped the man from pressing the detonator and maybe he wouldn't have been so weak to need Akiyoshi saving him. He wouldn't have gotten anyone killed if Akiyoshi had just left him there to die.

"Should… should I leave you?" Inko asked.

"Y-yeah," Izuku replied stiffly.

The mother got up and with a worried glance left her son to himself. Izuku simply sat there looking at the envelope numbly. He did not want to believe Akiyoshi was dead. He half expected the man to suddenly spring out from his bike and claim it was all an elaborate prank but they had found the broken body and confirmed it. Izuku knew that opening this letter was an admission of his death. You only read a dead man's will after all.

Shakily his fingers pulled off the seal and opened the envelope. A key the shape of a dick fell out and Izuku couldn't help but let out a dry laugh at Akiyoshi's attempt at humour. Didn't the man know how much it would hurt if he died? Izuku couldn't bring himself to hate the man and took out the letter.

 _So I died. Big deal. Get over it. Everyone dies and as long as I died with a smile on my face I'm fine. It's like the greatest 'fuck you' to life you can give. If life gives you shitty lemons then flip it off with a nice 'fuck you'._

Izuku started crying as he flipped off the air randomly with his middle finger. He didn't know why but he just felt so angry with life, almost like it was a tangible person he could blame. He stopped the inappropriate gestures to wipe his tears and continue reading.

 _So I'm going to write this letter to you because you have a fucking annoying hero-complex. I knew from the moment I saw your snotty nosed face that you were a crying, whiny little piece of shit who'd be too much trouble to handle and safe to say… you proved me wrong. You cried and you were whiny but you weren't a little bitch. Not after you stuck up for yourself to that Katsuki fucker._

 _I know that you're going to blame yourself for however the fuck it is I died, but don't. Life's a game and sometimes the health bar just doesn't like you enough, or the enemy uses cheat codes. Oh god I sound like that idiot Tomura. ANYWAY as I was saying you shouldn't blame your whiny little ass. I probably got myself killed doing something stupid knowing me anyway._

 _Just live your life to the fullest kid. Take risks even if it looks like it's going to get you killed but don't ever regret it. The moment you regret your decisions is the moment life's won and we're here to beat it to shit remember. Take your pain and regrets and turn them into lessons and use those lessons to punch life's balls. Also the dick key is for my underground basement. It's pretty hidden as I'm sure you're aware and although I've given my house to my cunty-sister I want you to have the space we shared._

Izuku was bawling now, tears blurred the writing and he stopped reading to hiccup into the sheets. Even when the man was dead he was still giving weirdly good advice in the stupidest of ways. For a second it almost felt like Akiyoshi was next to him telling him his sagely wisdom. Izuku repeated every word and ingrained it into his heart. He wanted to make Akiyoshi exist eternally in a place he could never die; in his heart.

 _So remember when life gives you lemons just flip it off. You've got a multi-billion dollar company, probably a new Rolls Royce Phantom and a bunch of hot chicks at your heals. You don't need any bloody lemons. Just promise me one thing._

 _Die with a smile._

* * *

The funeral had been a quiet matter. Akio had decided it was best to keep the funeral private, what-with the media in an uproar that the infamous quirkless villain had in fact been a business tycoon. Business dealers, distant family, and friends were there. Izuku just sat numbly at the front with Akino who was sobbing quietly. The speeches were quick and tearful but when Izuku got up he couldn't help but cry. He should be smiling. That's what Akiyoshi would have wanted but he was in so much pain. Despite this he put on an awkward smile and wiped his eyes before starting. His speech had been slow, full of hiccups and stutters but he made it through with a weird smile. He almost felt the man's ghost next to him, guiding him crudely, yelling curses at him to straighten up and put a proud smile on his face.

"H-he al-always said that t-the only w-way t-to really beat life w-was to die with a s-smile! So… so n-no matter w-what had happened h-he died h-his own w-way and on his own terms."

With that said Izuku gave the casket one last look and remembered the man's proud smile and he couldn't help but have a real smile come on his face too. The world had beaten him down, given him such unequal grounding and in the face of all that Akiyoshi flipped it off and became successful. Izuku would not let that memory down.

The rest had blurred with Izuku dazing off into memories of better days. There was a sort of hole in his chest he could not place. It was like he had lost a limb, a part of him that felt necessary to survive. He did not dwell on it for long however. He wasn't the only one who had lost someone important that day and Izuku came to meet the man who Akiyoshi considered a best friend.

Sasoro Fumiyaki was everything Akiyoshi Torio wasn't. He was tall, had a very angular face, soft features, and bright blonde hair. Akiyoshi had always been rather on the short side with chiselled features more square and rugged in a dark mysterious way but Sasoro seemed to be almost borderline bishounen. He had a polite nature, a genuine smile, and a soft spoken attitude that, no matter how business like Akiyoshi tried to be, would still not compare to the man's elegance.

"It's unfortunate that we finally meet under these circumstances Midoriya-kun," Sasoro sighed.

Izuku noted how dull and red from crying the man's green eyes seemed and Izuku felt like he was looking in a mirror. He must have looked worse considering the amount of sleep he had managed the last 2 weeks would shame an insomniac.

"You were T-Torio-sans c-childhood friend right?" Izuku asked.

"Yes, we had practically grown up together although I doubt he would have liked me had we met as strangers. He was rather abrasive," Sasoro smiled longingly, a faraway look softening his features before it set back into the dull lacklustre of grief.

His attention went back onto Midoriya before he bowed lowly. The flustered boy jumped back in confusion.

"W-what are y-you doing?"

"I haven't thanked you yet for saving Akino-chan and Akio-san's life. If it weren't for you I would have lost two more precious people that day," he answered sincerely.

Izuku felt his gut twist in disgust. The man shouldn't bow to him. He had been the cause of 200 people's lives. He knew that were in the same position again he would choose Akino all over again. That simple revelation made him feel sick. Had he even done the right thing? How many more people were suffering because he didn't let that sick killer have his way?

"Don't bow to me," he said with a sharp disgusted tone he did not know he could make. "No one should bow to me. Do you know what I have done?"

"You saved my precious people," he continued with a knowing glance.

"But I killed 200 more people!" he retorted with a sharp breath.

The room went silent with Izuku's sudden outburst and he felt heat rise to his cheeks in shame. Tears spilled out of his eyes as the guilt burned through his body. He hated this vile feeling.

"Midoriya-kun-"

"No! I don't want to hear it! Why am I not in prison?! Why isn't anyone angry with me?!" he cried in frustration.

"Izuku" This time it was his mother.

"NO! Don't touch me" he screamed. _I don't deserve it!_

Izuku had run out that day, jumping under a nearby bridge as he punched the concrete wall in growing anger. His knuckles were bleeding and his skin ripped but he didn't stop until the energy had drained from him and his punches became weak. He crumbled to the ground, tears unable to come out as they had all dried, and all he knew was the pain. His hands were burning and throbbing in protest but even that didn't compare to the unexplainable ache inside.

He was already a villain. There was nothing to smile about, not without the man who allowed him to feel joy… no, he wasn't lost. He knew what he had to do… he knew what he had to _become._

 _The final boss_

* * *

Ok sorry for the long as time it took to update this. I'm moving homes currently and the packing is a real pain in the ass. Anyway it's a busy time as you can tell and writing this chapter has been really hard. I mean I loved Akiyoshi and I realised a lot of the reviewers shared that view. Since this is a Villain Deku AU there will be a lot of canon and non-canon characters dying in the future. I might ramp up the rating to an M. We'll just have to see what lengths I have to go to, to break Izuku.

I want Izuku's character to play things smart. He isn't like the other villains with their flashy, destructive quirks. He's more of a Lex Luthor figure if anything and I don't want him to simply take Akiyoshi's title as Trickster. There will be more on that later. I was aiming to have him play the role as a manipulator. I think that would add more tension with his character, Tomura and especially Sensei who is just as manipulative. So it'll be a battle of the brains? Idk. We'll just have to see how well I am at writing plot. XD


	9. Into The Darkness

Quirkless

* * *

Chapter 9

* * *

2 years since the day that changed it all. Izuku found himself going about life normally like nothing had happened, like he hadn't resolved himself to his life of villainy. He hadn't done anything for his cause and it seemed like a distant goal. The police had monitored him closely for a year, to see if he was in fact connected to the Trickster, but visiting the lab wasn't suspicious, at least not when it was under the pretence of visiting Akio who now permanently lived there with Akino. Izuku would go there and simply improve gadgets, work on his costume, set out his goals and reminisce. Having another quirkless villain appear right after Trickster's public reveal would only bring suspicion onto him. So he begrudgingly held back his plans until this all blew over. Soon people would forget. Life would move on like nothing had happened at all and it made him feel sick because Akiyoshi had died and everything should be _wrong._ The world was _wrong._

Everything felt different even school and it wasn't even because he was finally in Sumato like Akiyoshi had wanted. It felt like a foreign entity altogether for an entirely different reason. He didn't see the usual faces and people either, altogether avoided him, or pretended to be friends to get close to his riches. It was just too normal. After all the things that had happened it almost felt surreal to go back to an ordinary life, to pretend he hadn't been helping a villain for over a year, to pretend that he was fine. Izuku had continued his presence there out of necessity, going through the dredge of life unsure what to think or feel. Sometimes he was sad, most of the time he was bitter at the heroes he had once trusted but altogether he had become lonely. In his grief he immersed himself in his studies, met with Akio after school to fulfil his business training for when he took ownership of CHEM labs and planned his next moves. Business wasn't doing well and soon Izuku had to pick up slack, pushing the company where it used to be before the disaster that forever soiled its name. It was tough, helping Akio rebuild the company back up after most of its shareholders took back their earnings and left them to pick up the pieces.

Despite this Izuku longed for the moments he was by Akio's side working for Akiyoshi's legacy. He knew he would not fail the company. He would bring it to new heights when he became CEO and he would beat Akiyoshi's high-score. He would become the final boss like he had promised the man he would be. If that meant he had to work his way to the top, controlling those around him, manipulating every action, he would do it.

He would expose the heroes.

First he would start with Kamui Woods and then he would flesh out the rest. He would crush those who weren't worthy to defeat him and when the final hero comes he would gladly lose all HP with a smile. He had resolved himself of his fate the moment the funeral had ended. He couldn't become a hero anymore. That dream had been crushed the moment he chose to end 200 lives for the people that mattered to him. If he wasn't going to become a hero he would become the antithesis of one and weed them out. He would play his role.

He just didn't know how…

His whole life he had been pining to be a hero. Akiyoshi had thrown him off tangent, not that it fazed him anymore. He just didn't know where to start. Akiyoshi's brand of villainy had been rather tame and if he wanted to be the All-Might of Villains he would not know where to start. He had only ever seen the soft-core aspects of Villainy and even then it was behind a screen where he was playing the role of Akiyoshi's hero/informant by getting him out of tight spots. This… this was different.

He was currently in his lab working through a formula he had just finished not two weeks ago. It heightened his senses, pushed him on overdrive, pumping adrenaline into his systems and changing his behavioural patterns. It was a drug, a simple pill, something he'd made through extensive research over the two years he had hidden in the background. As Izuku he was meek, susceptible to the common fears of someone his status, but this drug would change everything. It was in his lab that he came across an individual that would change the course of his career.

Thankfully, or not, depending on how one would view it, Izuku had come across a rather particular figure. The man was dressed very formally, like Izuku usually did now, but his whole body shimmered in a midnight blue fog with piercing viridescent eyes. Izuku had been working in his private lab and had not expected this visit. His body sprang to action and pulled out a quirk suppressant gun. Akio had pushed for him to have it on him at all times considering the company, although hit by hard times, did not mean it was any less rich and it still made him a target.

"I am not here to hurt you," the man said in an all-business tone.

Izuku nodded but otherwise didn't take his hand off the gun. He lowered it enough to show his understanding but only enough so that if the man made a move he would have time to shoot.

"Forgive me if I don't quite believe you," Izuku replied politely. He had been going through speech therapy and it really helped pull up his confidence know that he could speak without the stutter. It all had to do with confidence he reminded himself. Whoever this man was he would not take him down because he had a goal to accomplish now.

"It's entirely my fault for dropping in so abruptly. Do not apologise."

"As much as I adore the pleasantries can we get to the point? I don't think you came here to simply apologise about it."

Izuku was on edge. No one treated him with respect like this. He was a 14 year old kid, and although he knew his own mind was brilliant, they were all adults with years of experience on him. Even with his status as heir he was only a child to them. This man obviously wanted something.

"You're right. I was chosen as the emissary from the League of Villains."

Izuku's heart skipped a beat and he realised his expression had betrayed his thoughts once more. He pulled his face back into a neutral state but it was too late to hide his apprehension. The man seemed to notice but held out a letter anyway.

"Why does it feel like I'm being invited to a wedding?" he asked as he looked at the rather elaborate black envelope.

"Should you come it would be akin to your commitment to marrying our cause," the man mused. "My name is Kurogiri, and you may call for me using this remote when you feel ready to come."

Izuku took the smaller than a phone device and nodded his understanding. The villain politely said his goodbye before leaving the boy to his thoughts. Izuku looked at the device with ambivalence. He had never done anything truly villainous before in his life and he was just an ordinary person. How he came to this situation baffled him. By all means his life should have been a monotonous one. After all why would villains or heroes even want a quirkless child on their side? The only thing Izuku knew he had was a decent head on his shoulders, but other than that everything that had happened to him was because of external circumstances. Whether those circumstances were good or bad he did not know.

He wondered what his life would have been like had he not encountered Akiyoshi that fated day 4 years ago. Despite his love for this world shattering he did not regret it. Akiyoshi had given him everything… he had given him reason. Izuku had a purpose now and it was to make the man's memory proud and to do that he would stage the biggest 'fuck you' to the world. He would flip society on its head, throw lemons at them like life itself, and force them to show their resolve.

The world had broken him and he would break the world.

Heroes and villains all would be exposed for who they truly were. He would bring the truth out from the darkness. He knew society would label him as a villain but he would be more than that… he would be something entirely different. He wasn't going in to commit random acts of cruelty- no everything had to be planned. Everything he would do would be to expose truth behind those heroes fake masks. He would be the equaliser in a world of heroes and villains. Izuku didn't realise a manic smile had taken over his face until he noticed Akio's worried look.

"Izuku-chan?"

Izuku turned to Akio, his eyes were steely and she noticed a sense of fire, of purpose, that often shone in her late brother's. She couldn't help but be startled by it- reminded of Akiyoshi, and for a split second she saw him in Izuku.

"You've made up your mind on something haven't you?" she asked with a warm smile.

"I'm going to join the League of Villains"

* * *

 _Crap…_ was the first thought he had when he went through the dark portal. He had resolve now, but that didn't mean he still wasn't sourly over his head. What 14 year old could say that they had joined the _League of Villains_? He had barely composed himself when he entered in with his traditional white shirt and green vest-suit. His mother always poked fun at how 'mature' and 'adorable' he looked in it but Izuku didn't pay her any mind. This was the only style of suit he would ever wear. It was the first suit Akiyoshi had bought him and he only every ordered suits from that specific tailor with these specific materials. He thankfully had the money for it.

Despite the formal attire, a billion dollar business backing him, and his growing knowledge in many fields, Izuku still felt inadequate. There was something humbling- in a terrifying way- to be in the midst of several older, much more experienced villains. It was in that moment of looking at the intimidating crowd that Izuku knew, despite his obvious panicking, that he would have to climb the stairs so to speak. He wanted to become the final boss that wouldn't be easy task, just like it would be the play both the heroes and the villains simulatenously. In a way this was his heroes' quest- his journey to the top, and it was only until he reached his position as the final boss that he could achieve his ending goal.

He discreetly popped one of his pills. He could feel the instant kick of adrenaline in his systems, his mind clearing into absolute focus, in a state of hyper-drive. He felt confident. If anything were to happen he could handle it with the help of the drug. He could do anything!

"This is the Trickster's brat?"

Izuku looked at Tomura with an expectant smile, eyes glinting with anticipation. He had talking without stuttering down, but he was still an open book to read. He knew now that because he was in such a tentative situation, that he would have to get acting down to a tee. He did not have the same goals as the League of Villains and he didn't intend to follow them, and so he would have to play it safe. Akio had told him that their purpose was simply a world without the symbol of peace. They wanted to rebuild it in their image- whatever that entailed. It wasn't like they outlined whatever their 'image' was. He was playing a dangerous game, but games were only fun if they were dangerous.

Izuku didn't want their dream. Out of all the heroes, he knew that All Might was one of the few worthy of the title hero itself. The man embodied the values of the title he claimed to be, while others abused it, treating it as some sort of occupation or a means to power. Humanity was full of vile individuals and he would weed them out. He would force them to show their true colours. Villains were just another stain on the world- but at least they were bearable. They did not pretend to be good and although they were still pieces of shit, Izuku could deal with their honesty. He was honest too because just like them he recognised how ruined of a person he was. He would act as the litmus test and he would expose everyone to their true nature. Currently the test was being offered to Shigaraki.

"Tomura Shigaraki-san, it's a pleasure to finally meet another gamer," Izuku said with a smile as he held out his hands, a wild grin on his face.

Tomura noticed the insane glint in the boy's deceptively innocent seeming eyes and he couldn't help but smile. This boy was wild and he knew it. No one ever held out their hands for him, and although he could see the kid was shaking in fear, he could also see the sheer excitement in those murky green eyes. He, in a sign of connection, shook the boy's hand, making sure his thumb didn't connect so as to not activate his quirk. That was enough for the boy's nervous smile to turn sickeningly bright. He had known. The brat had known his quirk and he still held out a hand. Shigaraki was impressed.

"Oh great another crazy brat," Giran grumbled, "I knew he took after Akiyoshi."

Izuku looked at the man named Giran and he knew the man to be the broker Akiyoshi had gone to visit before the tragic events that followed on the day. Izuku didn't know what to think of the silver haired man other than the fact that he sort of resembled Akiyoshi but without the good looks. He wore a suit, although it was an eccentric purple colour and he had that same scruffy appearance.

"We aren't going to baby-sit a kid are we? I didn't sign up for this," Yami Uma grumbled.

Izuku hadn't noticed this man before in his talks with Akio about the characters he would be meeting. The man wore an over-large jumper but the odd thing about him was his charred black face, hair seemingly mangled to make a point at the back of his head, and the too wide mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. He looked too much like a serial-rapist for Izuku's comfort but the boy knew not to judge because his own appearances had taken a change for the worse. He was thinner, if that was possible, his skin was paler and he had dark bags under his once healthy eyes. Sleep had not come easy when 214 people haunted your nightmares. Izuku was still visiting all their graves.

"Thankfully you won't have to-" he said trailing off when he didn't catch the name.

"Yami Uma, remember it brat."

"Yes as I was saying, I will not need a baby-sitter," he said trying to keep his voice level but betraying some of his exasperation. The pill had made it easier for him to voice his thoughts without fear but it hardly helped put a filter through his already scattered mind. "I don't have much of a physical use to your cause as much as I do with my wealth and knowledge. I have come to propose an agreement of sorts so that we both benefit. So my ideal situation would be that I'm only ever called in important situations."

Tomura scratched his neck in annoyance. "Don't become all stiff like Kurogiri. I wanted a gamer friend," he whined.

"Sorry Tomura-san but my only spare time is during Saturday afternoons as I have other duties. It was one of the reasons I wanted to discuss my extent of involvement in this League."

"We understand that you want to be kept discreet, and it is to both our benefit that you do," Kurogiri said with a knowing look. "Sensei has already looked into your case and your help will be required from the shadows."

Izuku let out a breath of relief. Kurogiri seemed the most reasonable out of all the villains and he enjoyed that. He understood that his position was less than ideal for the villains. They wanted someone who could stay for long periods of time undercover, analysing hero quirks and spying on the enemy. Izuku knew that if he really wanted to, that could be arranged, but he had other more pressing problems. He was still a kid and even he acknowledged his lack of influence. He had too many responsibilities for a person his age and one of them was learning to take over a massive business. It was integral for his success, not to mention the legacy of Akiyoshi Torio, and now it was his responsibility. He would take up part time villainy once he had the time to, but until then he would seep his influence into the world and ground it firmly.

"I will agree to come if you call me at least a day prior or if it's an emergency," Izuku finally said coming to the logical conclusion. "Considering my only current use would be quirk analysis and battle tactics it shouldn't be often that I'm needed in an emergency."

Mr Compress finally spoke up. "That is well and all child but we have no proof of your worth. I propose you _plan_ something for our hench-men to accomplish. Should they be able to with success achieve a worthy hurdle through tactic rather than brute strength then only shall I accept you."

Izuku felt growing frustration but kept it down. People often underestimated him because of his age and he knew that their apprehension was understandable but it was still annoying. He knew his own limitations and strengths well but they didn't. For all they knew he could have simply only inputted advice towards the Trickster's late plans and not have come up with it by himself. Izuku knew that Akiyoshi had taken most of the reigns back then but then again he was only 12 and he was new to the business. He had a year's worth of hard experience now to back him up, and while it wasn't as long as the others, he was confident in his analytical skills.

"Of course, it's only fair that I prove myself," Izuku agreed. "I want a general overview of all the pawns you have in your arsenal."

"Ooh, you want to use the mob?" Tomura asked as he scratched his neck.

"I want the expendable ones," Izuku confirmed with a growing smile. "We'll give the heroes a little ultimatum and obliterate them with our pawns alone. It should knock them down a peg or two."

"Are you sure you don't want to add a mini-boss in there?" Tomura asked. His interest was aptly caught.

"Of course not Shigaraki-san. It's only level 1 after all."

"I like this kid, can we keep him?" Tomura asked Kurogiri.

"That was the plan," the bar-tender nodded. Izuku swore he heard a twinge of amusement in the man's tone.

Tomura turned back to the grinning child and decided to put out a time limit and an objective. A game wasn't fun without a goal to achieve and some loot in the end. He took out the file Kurogiri had prepared beforehand should Izuku have joined and handed it to the child.

"The Quartz mask?" Izuku asked with a raised brow. "Isn't this the mask supposedly worn by one of the first heroes? What use would the League have for it?"

Tomura laughed in excitement. "Isn't it great?! It was made from the hero's quirk and we can recreate it once we get it back."

Something clicked inside his head and Izuku shot up in wonder. _Recreate._ The League of Villains apparently had a way to re-create and possibly give others quirks! The idea in itself sent Izuku's mind reeling with possibilities. Did that mean they could only give Emitter and Transformation quirks or was it possible to give someone a Mutant quirk? How would that be possible when Mutant quirks require pre-disposed genetic mutations to allow for the abilities? How does one even transfer a genetic mutation from one individual to another? Was there a certain genome that they could spark under controlled circumstances to trigger the mutation?

"Kid you're mumbling," Giran grumbled as he cleaned out his ears.

"Sorry," Izuku apologised despite his voice not seeming sorry at all. "It's just so amazing! Think of the possibilities that could rise from something like this? Is it a device? A scientific method? Oh- no I got it- there must be someone with the ability to transfer quirks! I know some people have the ability to copy quirks so is it something similar to that? Can you give someone a quirk that already has one? What if the quirk negates the pre-existing one? What if-"

"Kid, we get it, you're excited but please shut the fuck up," Yami Umi grumbled in frustration.

"I suggest you use that inquisitive nature to formulate a plan. Once you've proven yourself we can answer your questions," Kurogiri sighed.

"How about we add a bonus goal?" Tomura asked with excitement. "I'll tell you a really big secret objective if you accomplish your task without any villain fatality."

"You're on," Izuku agreed instantly before he realised the time. "Hmm, I have an appointment in five minutes. Can you please take me back Kurogiri-san?"

"Of course," the man said as he pushed the bar- door and opened a portal.

Izuku stepped through with the man and found himself back in his personal study. A shiver of excitement and trepidation went down his spine. He had joined the League of Villains. He was going to _use_ the League of Villains. It had been 2 years and he was finally going to start his mission. The game had finally begun and if he screwed up on level 1, he could count himself unworthy of his cause. No- he would win and when he did, it would be a complete annihilation of the enemy and he would get the bonus objective.

* * *

Woo-wee. This chap was hard to get out. It took a while to write and I kept changing things, trying to keep things open so the plot will remain flexible. Not to mention doing it all while I had to move houses. Don't blame me for the lateness. I didn't have internet for a week so I couldn't post it even when I finished writing it. It was actually a learning experience and I think I lost a few kilos after getting off my butt and actually doing some grunt work around the house.

Anyway... Izuku finally joins the League of Villains. I'm not planning to keep him there forever as you can already see although he's not going to leave anytime soon. It's just the start of his villainous career after all. He's fourteen now so a lot has changed with his character in two years. He doesn't stutter anymore and he's gained a lot more confidence in himself although the pills only help enhance those features about himself. In the next few chapters we'll get to see Villain Izuku's debut performance into the limelight. Also I'm not going to have him take the Trickster's title. Izuku is playing it safe. He doesn't want attention on his civilian identity and having a second trickster would put attention on him so he's going for a different route. Also Akiyoshi had always encouraged him to find his own path so Izuku is just doing what he would have wanted him to.

As an added warning this story will become a lot darker in the following chapters. Remember to review! I love reviews!


	10. To Plan a Performance

Quirkless

* * *

Chapter 10

* * *

Worry gnawed at his chest. Izuku looked down at his costume. It was a black trench-suit, draping around his knees, although it mostly resembled a black lab-suit. He had designed it so that he could have several chemical holders here and there to go with the whole scientific theme. He put extra precaution into asking Giran to make him a costume with one special pocket made of extra reinforced material. It was the pocket where he kept his enhancement pills.

There was so much to think about when creating an image. Should he go with the dark brooding theme? Would he be more on the crazy side? Should he have gone with Akiyoshi's psychedelic take? There were so many factors to a look into. He was on the short side and he needed to take that into consideration too. He had remembered Akiyoshi's wise words.

 _You are the image you present. That's one of the only fucking things heroes get right that villains are sloppy at. Just look at me! I'm a walking pile of confusion!_

An image was not unimportant. It represented your values, your beliefs. Izuku wanted to make it known to his enemies that he was quirkless, and despite that still above them in every manner. He wanted them to watch in fear as he stripped them down to their true nature. His costume was easy to put on and its many compartments allowed for him to carry around his gadgets. He had also designed a special glove for himself that conducted electricity. If he didn't have a quirk he would make do with a substitute power. He was not dumb enough to believe that he could go into battle with his combat training alone.

He whipped the coat over his usual green suit and buttoned it up to hide his clothes underneath. It was easy to put on and he could take it to places in his bag if need be. He placed the doctors' mask over his face and moved for the door. Taking a deep breath in, he moved to the top of the roof and looked at the night sky. The stars he loved watching as a child were obscured now. The city's musky fog had all but covered up the twinkling beauty of the heavens above. He held out a hand, using the inbuilt grappling hook in his arms to swing through the landscape like he had practiced a million times before.

The rendezvous point was at an abandoned shipping unit down at the docks. Izuku knew that's where the League conducted most of their illegal human trafficking. Unfortunate souls that decided to cross them were discretely captured and herded like cattle into metal containers to be sold in the ludicrous business that was slavery. It sickened him to his core but he wasn't going to make a move to help. It was a symbol of what heroes refused to help. It was a silent crime and one unworthy of the media's attention. Of course heroes weren't going to help if there wasn't something in it for them… they were after all nothing but a business and business was so easily corruptible.

He swung silently onto a metal railing as he watched the 4 or so villains underneath him. They were pushing around a young twenty or so year old girl who was barely clothed. She was in fear, shaken and shivering under their rough handling. The villains didn't seem like they cared, laughing out loudly and groping her. No doubt if this went on for any longer they would have certainly raped her. Izuku had to hold in a growl of disgust, his senses flaring for justice. This was wrong! She was weak and they were harming her, _violating_ her. A part of him was too scared to deal with them. They were older villains with _quirks._ He was just a scrawny 14 year old who was _quirkless._

There was one absolute though. Power talked. If he was going to do anything, if he was going to lead these pathetic people, then he would need that power. He could not stutter, he could not falter and he definitely could not be meek. He wasn't a villain by any traditional means. No he was more than that. He wasn't anything society labelled him as and he was most certainly not _Deku._ No, here he was more than all of that, he was a symbol. He wasn't a symbol of peace like All-Might or a symbol of chaos like Tomura, no he was a Symbol of truth. People feared the truth and by extension they would fear him.

He popped a pill. His senses flared, body suddenly aware of all the minute details of the dark landscape. His body pumped adrenaline in spades, sending a wave of power through his body. Now he wasn't Izuku he was the _Equaliser._

Izuku jumped down from the shadows, eyes steely with resolve. Right now he wasn't Midoriya Izuku, the scrawny 14 year old made fun of and called Deku, now he was the Equaliser. He was ruthless, always two steps ahead, but he was fair. A rather buff looking villain was licking the scared ladies neck as he stripped her. Izuku jumped behind him and injected a needle into him before walking in front of the startled group.

"Why you!" the buff villain screamed as he moved to grab the figure who had stabbed him harshly. His growl turned into one of seething pain as the small figure grabbed his arm and pressed down on a certain point.

"What the fuck! Who is this kid?" one of the villains screamed.

The villain he had stabbed with the needle was no writhing on the ground. Izuku had injected him with a little concoction he invented that made ones senses hyper-aware. It had been the precursor to his pills. He had faced the affects itself when he tested it out on himself. Safe to say he was in agonising pain for the next two hours. Pressing down on a pressure point now didn't feel like the normal painful it was but rather an unbearable torture. This display of power in itself would warrant some level of fear from the group.

"I absolutely abhor disgusting behaviour like this," Izuku said with an insane glint in his eyes. "I'll just have to teach you a lesson on how to treat ladies."

"Let's get him boys!" a shark like villain screamed.

Izuku held out a finger in a 'no no' gesture. The shark like villain that had charged him was instantly shocked with his gloves as he bought the villain to his knees. Izuku kept one firm hand on the buff villains pressure point, making sure he pressed harder than normal to keep the man down.

"Now the rest of you will charge at me to suffer the same fate and I will definitely take this up with Tomura-san. Now what would he think?"

"No way _you're_ Equaliser! We got sent a brat?!" one of the villains shouted in realisation.

As if it scare the rest of the villains even more the one he had in his grip had peed himself as he began writhing and spasming on the ground. The man was foaming at the mouth now. He no doubt took the pain too far. The man was probably going into cardiac arrest with the increased adrenaline in his hormonal glands. He didn't enjoy causing pain but when it was necessary he would dish it out but in this state he didn't quite care either. He had promised himself that he would bring true justice, not the fake kind the heroes flaunted in their prideful ways. If it meant torture then he would commit it.

"Unless you want to suffer his fate you will listen," Izuku said voice even, narrowed eyes promising pain.

"P-please save me! Y-you're a h-hero right?" the woman asked as she clung to him arm.

Izuku sent her a practiced cold look to which she fell to the ground. He loomed over her, his expression only betrayed by his eyes as the rest of his face was covered.

"I'm no hero lady," he said, "I'm far from it, but I am fair. What's your quirk?"

"I-I can turn metal into styraphome," she stuttered.

"Hmm, a useful quirk. I'll keep you around. I'm sure the shipment has enough women to sell and you don't look like the pleasuring type."

The woman didn't seem to take insult at her less than beautiful appearance because for once she was happy that she wasn't pretty. She wanted to live. She didn't want to be sold. She'd do anything to survive.

"You're keeping a random lady? You're too soft to lead us kid!" a cockroach like villain shouted in irritation.

Izuku walked up to the villain slowly, back straight and head tilted in a show of curiosity. His apparent lack of fear sent the villains bristling. They had seen his display of power not a second ago and he was given a position of authority by the _League of Villains._ They knew he was strong in some form of manner or another but his height and age made them instantly challenge his leadership. Still even through the lack of height, his appearance in itself was disconcerting. His dishevelled hair, crazed look in those green eyes and the overall pristine and no doubt expensive black lab-coat displayed a menacing power hidden behind the small figure.

"Who wants to challenge me next?" he asked with an excited tone. "I'm currently not myself. I'm far more inclined to help cause some misery."

It was true. His inhibitions were loosened in this state. The pill pulled him into a battle ready form, increasing his attentiveness and decreasing his empathy. It would help him cope with the pressure when others would writhe and cry in distress. In this state torture didn't seem frightening and neither did death.

The men had fallen into line. Well the two of them who were remaining anyway. Izuku knew he only needed those two anyway. The shark and the literal boulder he had incapacitated could have been useful but he could do without. He was currently left with a girl who could turn metal into styraphome, a man who had the literal powers of a cockroach, and a low powered technopath. In the end they would be all he needed and maybe even more than he required.

"You three will do. I've read all the documents on every single member of the League of Villains bar the bosses. It's unfortunate but I won't be able to unlock their secrets until I reach a much higher level. As you all know we will be conducting a heist… well at least to steal one object. Should you decide to grab anything else without my explicit permission I will personally object you to your worst nightmares. Are we clear?"

"Yes!" the three remaining members practically shouted.

"Here's the mission briefing. Roach, make sure the girl is chipped. We don't want her running away do we?"

"Chipped?" she yelped in fear.

"Yes, it's a tracker as well as a detonator. Think of it as insurance in case you decide to prematurely drop out," Izuku explained.

"You're practically enslaving me!" she growled in anger before her expression turned to worry as Izuku drew closer.

"I'm not enslaving you. It's your choice if you want to continue but if you refuse you'll be short a head, and last I heard those were necessary."

"Better take it girl. It's better than the alternative," Techno, the third member of the group chimed in.

"Yes. I'd say it suits you more than a common sex slave," Izuku hummed. "But of course if you chose not to be pathetic and hold firm to your 'moral values' I will honour your memory."

She blinked in surprise, tears staining her eyes. She'd never committed a crime before. Life was perfect, her family was nice, they weren't rich but they weren't poor either and she enjoyed her everyday desk job in sales. What more was there to aspire to? How could she commit to something like this, something so illegal, and not to mention wrong, when she'd never done anything like it before? She couldn't. She was raised to be better than this, to have values, and standards. Her heart beat quickly as she held in her breath, preparing for the end. She wanted to survive but what was the point if she was giving up herself in the process. But she didn't want to die. She feared death.

"I-I'll join," she stuttered.

Izuku frowned. "I expected more but as it stands you deserve what's coming."

He grabbed the syringe and roughly pulled her hair back before inserting the chip into her neck. It didn't have to be this way. He had tested her and she had failed. Had she refused he would not have killed her. She would have been undeserving of that fate and even right now he didn't want to do this. It was harsh. He was dooming her to a life of villainy. In a better world would she have refused his offer? It mattered not. It was still a better fate than the one that had previously been in store for her.

No… it did not matter. She chose her fate just like he had. There was no time for second guesses, no time to be the weak Deku he was before. In the future some time he was certain he would kill and do much, much worse things. Was he ready for it… even he didn't know but when the time came he would test his own values and if he failed…

…death was the only cure.

* * *

For all his bravado Izuku was still stuck after the pills effects wore off. Now that he looked at the villains he had at his disposal he was really worried. It was no wonder why these villains became what they were. Some of them had the weirdest quirks and Izuku was finding it hard pressed to find a creative outlet for them that wasn't completely idiotic. He figured at least the Cockroach quirk allowed for the user to not die, or at least tenaciously evade death like all annoying cockroaches, but heroes never went for the kill anyway and he was certain they didn't carry around bug-spray.

"Regretting your decisions already Izuku-chan?" Akio hummed as she flipped through her documents idly.

"… Somewhat. Do you think there's another way to make it big besides joining the League of Villains?" Izuku asked, reluctantly admitting his second-thoughts.

"Personally I've never liked those guys and neither did Akiyoshi. The best you can do is use them to boost your career."

"I was planning on using them anyway. I just can't get too involved. I have other goals after all. It'll be hard to back out of," Izuku admitted.

Akio eyed her successor with a small frown. She didn't trust the League as far as she could throw them. There was something about them that screamed wrong. They weren't the traditional villains. They weren't there for money or fame. They were there to bring society down on its knees for an obscure purpose. She knew Izuku was also an idealist. He didn't particularly care for wealth or fame but she saw the fire in his eyes that wanted to bring change. In that sense he was nothing like her late brother who simply did things for his own personal benefit. She found villains with conviction often times were far more dangerous than villains without.

"You'll find it hard-pressed to uncover their clear ideal. It's generally to cause chaos or to 'fashion the world to their image. Nothing that really outlines a society worth living in. At best their ideology represents Anarchy."

Izuku hummed his understanding as he dipped his head down the couch in contemplation. Anarchy, if he thought about it, would serve his purpose. Anarchy exposed humanity at its worst. It ripped them from their façade of structure and humanity, ripping their flesh and exposing the bare bones of their true nature.

"Not the most classy way of doing it," Izuku mumbled. "A society like that doesn't sound like fun but don't you think we've gotten a bit soft in the first place? When have we truly faced the hardships of life in the comfort of capitalism? Anarchy could help humanity in the long-run."

Akio shook her head and sighed. "You know Akiyoshi was never this thoughtful. Don't become too broody he wouldn't like it."

"I want to do things for a reason though. There has to be cause and effect, there has to be balance," Izuku protested. "Being a villain for the sake of being a villain is... well I've really understood that kind of mindset. I want to show the world what they truly look like on the inside, their rotten cores, their depraved animalistic desires!"

"You can do all that after you finish your homework"

"But-"

"No buts. Inko will kill me with another lecture if you fall behind. Finish your homework then help me with the files before you start plotting your evil plans oh Dark Lord," Akio said with an amused expression.

"I'm planning a freaking heist, I'm not about to take over wizarding England," he grumbled. "Plus when have you ever seen another villain needing to do homework. It's unfair."

Akio chuckled at the grumbling boy as he went to his personal desk. It hardly felt like he was an up-coming villain. Izuku was like a son to her. It barely crossed her mind that he wanted to be a villain. He had spent a whole 2 years plotting and yet it still seemed like such a faraway prospect. He was just a 15 year old boy recovering from the death of someone he cared for and she knew he wasn't particularly evil. She had seen nothing but kindness from the boy. How could he do anything remotely evil?

Despite her worries she decided to put her trust in him. There was little she wouldn't put in his already capable hands. Izuku was responsible for his age, made good decisions, and she even secretly let him make executive decisions for the company from the background. Everything he did was with hours of pre-planning. He wasn't just one step ahead he was usually two or three. She just hoped that this decision of his didn't cost him everything.

* * *

The hallway was busy as Izuku shoved his way past his classmates. It wasn't the rough and tough sort of busy he was used to during Middle School, no, it was a rather calm sort of busy. Being in Sumato, a rather prestigious school in Japan meant that either the students were really rich, and hence were too pompous to act like delinquents, or they were in on a scholarship and couldn't afford to lose it. Izuku was in the latter category, being one of the youngest members of his class, and having gotten in with a scholarship. He knew if he ended up losing his place he could always pay for it being the successor of CHEM but being the youngest, a year younger than his classmates, meant that he needed some credibility. He couldn't have damaging rumours flying around that the only reason he was there was because of his wealth.

Despite all this, today he was in a state of rush. His fellow school-mates sent him scathing looks as he ran down the hallway. No one ran… it was beneath them. Izuku hardly cared at the moment. He had work to do, villains to order, and a rather precious mask to steal. He had not spent sleepless nights planning back up plans for his back up plans to turn up late to the main event. He was going to star in his debut and for that he needed to be punctual.

Once he had safely made his way to an abandoned alleyway he slid on the doctor's mask and his black coat on top. With one swift move he pulled out his grappling hook and made his way to the roof tops. Getting to the convention centre wasn't hard. It didn't take long before he reached the allocated meeting point. Roach, Techno and Foam were waiting there for him. He popped a pill before making his appearance known, jumping down from the shadows to add to the mysterious affect. He would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy being mysterious.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"What, no evil line? How about 'The reckoning is at hand'!" Foam said dramatically.

Izuku just raised a brow at the woman's theatrics. One moment she was quivering in fear and the next she seemed to release all her pent up sass. Roach and Techno barely tolerated her presence from the two meetings they had before but it seemed she had grown on them... a little.

"Please tell us you're killing her after this," Techno groaned.

"That's up to the League. If they feel that she is a liability they can easily detonate the chip," Izuku replied straightforwardly, reminding the now gulping woman of her impending fate. "Enough said. Foam, come with me. Roach, stay in the shadows, I need you plant the bombs. Techno keep the screens on me like we planned."

Izuku was shivering in anticipation. Yes it was finally time. Preparation and execution were tedious, and often times far less glamorous than it seemed. While he and Foam walked silently through the corridors of the security dorm, there were no loud calls of ideology, no cool entries followed by blood and death. They sneaked silently instead, across the rooms, planting their feet quietly with the intent to complete their objective. It was an unassuming one. Plant a sleeping gas in the vents, followed by cutting the air flow from the bottom floor where the event was being held.

It was a simple plan but often times it was the simple plans that were overlooked. Villains, more often than not, relied one dimensionally on their quirks. As such heroes and security officers took into consideration the possible ways to break into a facility, via a quirk, before events were held. This closed off possible plans and opened others. Gone was the age of silent espionage, implemented by quirkless agents, and instead came the age where subtle and outlandish powers took front stage in everyday life. Quirks extended its changing reaches to all industries and the security industry was not an exception. As such they changed their methods to suit an invasive quirk but overlooked the simple methods used in the old days before people had such powers.

Izuku did not activate any quirk alarms because he was not using a quirk. When he infiltrated the building it was purely by his own skills. When he allowed for Foam to follow him he had banned her from using her abilities unless he specifically asked for it. They had placed the gas quickly into the shaft, having the security team fall asleep. Izuku closed the vents manually from the bottom floors before making his way to the observation room, now completely free to walk over the sleeping forms of the security. Foam was standing there looking at the many security screens, all showing the different levels of the building.

"The event starts in five minutes," she reminded him.

"Let's not be rude. We'll wait for them to at least finish their speech," Izuku replied with a smirk as he went to touch the com-link in his ears. "Techno, Roach do you read?"

'Yes' they chorused back

"Techno you are free to come to the security room," Izuku informed. "Roach give me the clear on the bombs?"

'Three on the affirmed targets… are you sure this is wise? One of the men I planted the bomb on was the director of hero advertisement department. Hitting the big leagues can get us into a lot of trouble.'

"Your concerns are unnecessary Roach, just do as you're told," Equaliser replied evenly before cutting the link.

Izuku sat down on the swivelling chair. There was time to spare before he made his debut. It was nerve wracking and despite the adrenaline coursing through his system from the pill, the sheer overwhelming moment got to him. In that moment of weakness he allowed himself to slump into his hands and groan.

"Why do you do this?"

The abrupt question drew him away from his nerves. He looked at the woman who had reluctantly joined their gang. His expression didn't change but he clearly felt Akiyoshi's hands ghosting over his shoulders, his wise yet crass words bringing meaning into his life, and most of all the man's sparkling black eyes showing his love for him. His heart ached, sending a spark of pain and anger through him all over again.

"You sound accusing," Izuku pointed out, not really answering the question.

"Of course I am! This is wrong. Are you really going to detonate those bombs? Are you really going to kill those three men?"

"Saionji Ikki: Head Treasurer of the Heroes Association. He raped a woman and was discharged due to 'lack of evidence'. The woman he raped committed 'suicide' not long later although all evidence showed she was murdered. The case was dropped. Noda Shunji: Director of Hero Advertisement, forced a male hero who found out his embellishment and illegal transactions to keep quiet or have his family murdered. The hero's family died from a 'rogue villain' and he later committed suicide. Mochizuki Robun: secretary of Hero Associations Treasury. This man stole from a charity fund he organised for surviving members of war veterans. Of course none of this was published and all evidence was covered up."

Foam had gone quiet. Izuku let the allegations hang without saying anything else. Anything that had needed to be said had been said. The corruption within the Heroes Association extended far past the pro-heroes themselves but also to their managers and into their committees. It wasn't about heroism anymore, it had become a full-fledged defence business, garnished with bright costumes and sugar coated speeches about liberty and justice. The moment that heroes became a part of the 'system' was the moment they became an organisation hiding behind the bright ideal of their titles… and titles were easily corruptible.

"How do you know this anyway?" she asked.

"I have my ways. None of which you are in a position to know of," Izuku replied easily. "You Foam, are a lucky pawn at my disposal. Thankfully for you I don't like throwing away my pieces unless there is no other way."

As long as she kept quiet and let him think, Izuku was happy. He said mean things, sure, but it had the desired effect. Foam had promptly shut her mouth at the mention of her position. It did well for him to remind her of how he literally held her life in his hands.

"Everything's in place boss," Techno said walking into the room.

"Are the cameras set? I need you to hack all the boards in Tokyo City. We will be advertising this moment for the world to see."

"Of course. It's not government level hacking hard so it shall be done quickly," Techno replied cracking his fingers.

Izuku stood aside for the man to start speaking to the technology. It was time to move now.

It was time for change

* * *

 **Oooohhhh! I'm sorry it took forever to release this chapter. I wrote one version didn't like it, wrote another, didn't like that either and finally ended up with this. I've stopped writing ahead because I'm also juggling this with another story I really enjoy writing as well. So I'm planning future chapters now and outlining where I want the story to go.**

 **People have asked me what Izuku will be based of. Ok here's the run down. Think Batman, except without the 'no kill policy' mixed with the ScareCrow and a less known Villain known as the Equinox. That's the vibe I'm looking for. Izuku is clearly not a strong fighter. He hasn't started training like in the anime but he does have excellent knowledge of the human anatomy so he knows all the pressure points and theories behind bringing down an individual. The pills accelerate his adrenal glands, while putting him in a brief state of fearlessness and allowing for quick decision making. It wears off after an hour and I will address the after-affects in a later chapter but for now it won't be mentioned.**

 **This Izuku will kill but only if he deems the person he is killing worthy of it and he doesn't target random civilians although he might test them like he did with Foam. My OC's aren't major to the plot anymore so if they do appear again it'll be for a mission or something but they won't be like Akiyoshi and his family. I don't like putting in too many OC's but the source material didn't give enough for me to work with so I'm going off what I can plus a bit of my own take. Hope you enjoyed.**

 **Leave your thoughts in a review!**


	11. To Perform an Act

Quirkless

* * *

Chapter 11

* * *

"Heroes have shaped and inspired our society, pushing us forward into a dawn of peace and prosperity admits the rise of villains! They drive our society, keep our peace, and ensure humanities future. In remembrance of these heroes, the heroes that started it all those decades ago, I proudly present to you the Quartz Mask!"

The crowd applauded, men and women alike, dressed in fine silk and satin, wine in hand, bejeweled like brides at their weeding's. Their claps were sophisticated and out of pleasantry, a sort of façade to frame their uncaring nature with genuine looking smiles and cheers. The waiters flooded in, moving in sync, hands elegantly holding platters of fine food. It was the epitome of a rich event. It was there for the sake of it. Why? It was just a show of power, to make known those who really held the world in their hands, those who really lead the world. It was not the heroes, it was in the hands of those hosting this event itself. The Equaliser knew this.

There was nothing flashy. Izuku simply strode in garnering attention instantly with his villain outfit, clashing admits the formal garments of the guests. In one hand was a simple gun, in the other a remote, while Foam followed behind him in nervous step. The Head Treasurer of the Heroes Association only noticed when his personal guard tapped his chest. The balding man, pushed up his tight pants around his gaping mid-section, before turning to look at the figure who dare enter. It was a small figure, draped in a black lab-coat.

Saionji Ikki, despite being the Head Treasurer of the Heroes Association had not been in the presence of a villain first hand. By all means, the figure of a child playing in a villains costume, should not have frightened him. It should not have frightened any of the security personal either. But there was something different- different about the way the boy moved, how he seemed unaffected by the security all pointing Quirk suppressors at him. The man decided that he would have to assert his dominance in this situation, despite the gnawing dread rising in his chest.

"State your business!" he called from behind his guards.

The boy tilted his head, green eyes piercing through him with a gleeful look.

"I'm here to take the mask," the boy replied, leaning forward, hands behind his back in a dramatic show of curiosity.

"Are you insane?! You can't come in here and demand that! I have forty men trained on you with quirk suppressants. Guards get him!"

"Ah, ah, ah," Izuku chastised as he held out a remote.

"A bomb," Saionji Ikki scoffed. "We can just evacuate!"

Izuku actually had to sigh in real exasperation at the man. "A bomb in the premise? Really? Nope that's way too cliché and I've had bad experiences with bombs in buildings. No this is far more _nefarious_. You see the bomb is _in_ you."

"Shoot him!"

In that moment dozens of needles hit his person. Izuku grunted in irritation, thankful that most of the infamous quirk suppressant needles bounced of his costumes material. It would have been a pain trying to pull them all out. He simply pulled the one needle that stuck in his neck out and rolled his head in boredom.

"Those are useless. You see I'm quirkless but try that again and the bombs will go off. Of course, I wouldn't want to kill these poor people Mr Ikki. I don't like the idea of killing civilians but your choices will determine that."

As if to prove his point a civilian who had tried to sneak out found himself trapped and unable to open the door. Izuku found it at least elevating of his worries that Roach knew how to do his job. He turned back to the Director of Treasury.

"You go boom and they go boom," he said like he was explaining it to a five year old. "Now that you have that threat over you I'd also like to point out that there are bombs inside of Noda Shunji and your secretary Mochizuki Robun. And before you kill me I'd also like to say that my death will result in an associate of mine pressing his own buttons."

The room broke out in worried murmurs as the mentioned people jumped up in fright. The civilians flooded away from them in fear. Izuku knew this crowd, the way they would react, and exactly what choices they would make. People were predictable like that, and even more so when they feared death.

"What do you want?" Ikki asked, voice cracking in fear.

"I've already told you what I want. I want the mask. Can I tell you a secret though?" Izuku asked, coming closer to the Director.

The man backed away in fear and his guards came to protect him but one show of the button in his hands they reluctantly backed off. Even guards were payed men with families and self-preservation instincts. Izuku found it in his great pleasure to get up close and personal with this pig and scare him. Oh he would enjoy it a lot. He moved his face closer to the sweating man's face, bringing his mouth to the man's ears and whispered…

"This is all being televised."

The Equaliser couldn't help but laugh as he backed away. Saionji Ikki had given him a look of horror. In that moment he had made it very apparent that the mask wasn't all that he wanted. He wanted these men exposed, stripped of all their dignity, of their proud attire and wealthy suits. He wanted them bare for the world to see.

"My men can still take you down in an instant," Ikki pointed out, stumbling backwards.

"Oh I have no doubt that they can kill me before I even push the button. I'm not as physically strong as they are, you see. I have to make do with what I have," Equaliser replied unfazed before he turned to the crowd. "Let's play a game shall we? I won't blow any of those three men I mentioned, and all of you won't have to die, if you kill them for me."

That was enough to send the audience into a frenzy. Men and women alike clambered to the exits trying to pry them open but Roach had reinforced them. If there was one thing that Roach was good at it was tinkering silently, crawling under everyone's watch as he meddled in the background. Apparently cockroaches were good for something. Once the civilian's realised that there was no way out, that they were trapped to do what they had to do, they went silent.

"Are you crazy?!" Ikki screamed in terror. "You blow us up and you go along with us too!"

"Oh but I won't have to blow you up," Izuku said knowingly. "You're precious guests will do it for me."

He was right. There wasn't much one wouldn't do when faced with the fear of death. It bought out ones true character. No doubt there would have been a few untainted souls, even within the confines of such a privileged rich crowd, which would deny abusing their morals. For them Izuku would die but most people were inherently corrupted. Men and women had scrambled up, the most violent, and often times the ones Izuku knew were the strongest, stabbed both Noda Shunji and Mochizuki Robun to death. It wasn't a pretty sight as they had used blunt cutlery to do so however it panned out just how he imagined. Not even the security made a move to help.

Foam vomited out her contents next to him which he responded to with a reassuring pat to the back. Death was brutal but he had seen enough of it to be desensitised but Foam had not. He didn't have time to dwell on her right now. Izuku quickly moved onto Saionji Ikki. The man was begging beneath him in fear of his death and even wetted himself as the once richly dressed and prestigious crowd had proved their animalistic nature. Izuku turned to look where he knew the camera was, broadcasting the event to the whole of Tokyo.

"I would like you to know that men show who they truly are in their deaths! This, this man that you praised as a long-term supporting member of the Heroes Association was in fact the man who raped a woman! Sakura Hino, a 24 year old med-student. Very pretty. Did she beg like you?" he asked turning to the man. "As you killed her, _violated_ her? I hope she sees what I'm about to do to you in heaven."

Izuku took out and loaded his gun and shot. One for each leg, arm and joint. He didn't find the joy he expected from getting justice for the girl and whatever illegal things the man had done before. He had expected some form of satisfaction but even that didn't come to him. He hadn't found that satisfaction from killing Tamon Tatsuki either, so it didn't really come as a surprise now. When the man cried, begged for mercy, he didn't feel a thing but he knew he was _right._ Who would bring the people who ordered _for_ justice _to_ justice but him? When enough was enough he ended the man's suffering with a bullet through the head.

"Foam, do your job," he ordered.

The reluctant villain clambered past him with a sickly expression as she moved to the metal casing beneath the fortified encasing holding the Quartz Mask. She turned the metal into Styrofoam before breaking it and catching the mask. Izuku took the mask and turned to the cameras before taking a bow.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, level 1 is complete."

With that said the two villains disappeared in a flash of smoke.

* * *

Japan was in an uproar. Footage of the monumental villain victory flooded every social media site. It was the hot topic like Izuku had intended it to be. It was his debut after all. Helping the League of Villains had been a secondary objective, a side mission, but his ultimate goal had always been to push the truth. He wanted the world to know what broke a good man like Akiyoshi, what kind of world pushed people to the edge and killed them, twisted them into what defined a true villain and a true hero. Heroes and Villains… that was simply a façade created by those in power to keep the masses calm and easily in their grip. When he was done Akiyoshi would be known as the hero he was and the world would have been turned upside down.

"The mission was a success," Izuku said with a lighter tone. The adrenaline had worn off and he was back to being Izuku again… just that he happened to be in his costume and in front of the people who followed him.

"You should have seen the masses," Techno laughed. "Oh god they were going crazy! Kid you've really put yourself out there. You do realise that after the stunt you just pulled the big leagues will be after you right? I mean we just killed three important members of the Heroes Association."

"It was a job well-done," Roach admitted. "A risky job nonetheless."

Izuku turned to Foam but she had said nothing, opting to remain in the background with what looked like a guilty expression. He felt a twinge of sympathy for her. She had chosen the path of villainy when he had given her an out, but no doubt the League wouldn't want her. She would be killed… and he didn't need that on his conscious. He already had the lives of 214 people on the list.

"We can celebrate later, for now stay here. I will be talking debriefing."

Izuku couldn't help but pop another pill. He felt tired from the adrenaline crash but he needed the boost, to keep up and play it safe. It was one thing to follow the mission objective but it was another to twist the cause of the mission itself. He was meant to take the Quartz mask as a simple test to see if he could be a part of the team. He was playing a dangerous game by adding his own personal vendetta into it. The League would no doubt identify him as a rouge member but in the long term what he did would play better to his own goals. Overachieving was sometimes threatening. Of course his threat to the League was much more hushed than his threat to the world.

He pushed open the bar door and was received by Kurogiri, Giran and Tomura. They waited idly talking as the news station behind them recounted the events of the night. It was painfully obvious how the media was trying to make the three men killed martyrs but Izuku knew that news stations hardly held public sway anymore, at least not when online committees would present the truth for him. People tended to be more honest behind a screen and yet so manipulative. Regardless they would no doubt show the actual footage which also involved his public display of all the three men's illegal crimes, hushed by their positions of power.

"Good job on a successful mission," Kurogiri congratulated.

"There was no doubt in my mind that it would work," Izuku replied taking of his mask. "Here's the mask."

Tomura caught the Quartz Mask and laughed. "Your performance was beautiful!" he cackled.

"It was amusing," Giran grunted reluctantly.

Izuku noted the way both Kurogiri and Giran eyed him with that calculative glint and he knew, in that moment, that they didn't trust him. It was easy to trust a mindless pawn, no matter how godly powerful their quirk was, but to trust someone who could as easily be their weakness was plain foolish. Tomura struck him as the childish sort so Izuku wasn't as concerned that the blue haired man would doubt his allegiance. Kurogiri and Giran on the other hand were far more cautious and intellectually inclined to instantly trust his motives.

"I don't like putting on a show," Izuku said truthfully. "I have stage fright. Large crowds scare me but it's different with the mask on. Plus I figured we have the same goals… I just went about it in a roundabout way. Destroying the symbol of peace can show the world how weak heroes are, but to completely break the worlds trust in heroes, that- that is something else."

Izuku let his motives settle into them for a while. Yes he was twisting his motives around a little but he spoke nothing but the truth. He wanted to destroy the world's perception of heroes. They were being deceived by this sugar-coated image presented by the Association. Heroism was something to be admired in the past, something selfless in nature, but now it was done all for selfish reasons.

"He is ready," Tomura exclaimed. "You beat the bonus objective. You got the mask without any villain casualties so I'll give you the prise."

The blank TV screen turned on revealing a scarred man's face. Izuku blinked in surprise but otherwise felt the man's presence overcome him instantly. It was twisted in nature. There was something _evil_ about this man, but even more than that, there was something dangerous. It was one thing to be simply evil. Even idiots could be evil. It was when someone was both evil and _smart_ about it that things really became dangerous. Playing the League of Villains didn't seem so easy anymore.

"My name is Sensei"

Izuku really had the urge to ask 'what do you teach' but thankfully even with the adrenaline he didn't say something so stupid. He simply nodded his understanding before something dawned on him.

"You're the one who knows how to redistribute quirks," he concluded.

"…You are right and must I say quite brilliant for someone so young. I have the quirk All For One, the direct inversion of All Might's One For All. You Midoriya I have seen befit to be gifted a quirk."

Izuku mulled over what he had been offered. His heart skipped a beat, jumping in anticipation but falling just as quickly. This was his real test. This was his test of value.

"You wanted me to take the power from the Quartz hero. That's why you had me steal the Quarts mask," he concluded.

"Very good insight boy," Sensei complimented.

"No"

Now it was the Villains' turn to be shocked. They looked at Izuku like he had grown a second head but it didn't stop the teen from continuing his daring line of thought. He so desperately _wanted_ that quirk but it would defeat Akiyoshi's legacy, and his faith in himself.

"When I topple society to its knees I want them to know a quirkless boy did it," Izuku replied evenly.

Sensei laughed. It was the sort of laugh that sent chills down ones spine. Izuku couldn't tell whether the man wanted him dead or found him genuinely amusing. It set him on edge.

"You are quite an interesting boy, Midoriya Izuku. I accept your decline."

With that the screen turned off. Tomura wrapped an arm around Izuku's neck, pulling the boy to the bar counter and seating himself down next to him.

"I like you," Tomura said with a wide grin.

This was the first time Izuku saw Tomura without the hand on his face. The man's face was covered in wrinkles, eyes drawn up wide, smile taking most of the faces surface area and somehow still managing to look disconcerting. Tomura then ordered alcohol.

"What would you like to drink?" Kurogiri asked.

"Um… orange juice?" Izuku asked.

This time it was Giran who laughed. "Get the kid some Margarita," the man ordered.

"I-I can't drink," Izuku replied with a frown.

Giran sent the teen an incredulous look. "You can kill people but you can't drink?"

"Fair point," Izuku relented.

With that said Izuku ended up drinking more than his fair share before passing out.

* * *

 **Ok another chap done! I loved writing this chap! Oh god this is going to deviate from MHA plot so much in the future. I'm sorry guys but sure there'll be the whole USJ arc, as well as the Sports Carnival one but beyond that I'm just going to make up my own story. You'll find that in this one I'm not going to cop out and make Izuku good in the end or something. No way man, that's just a cheap cop out of a good character progression arc. I'm going to personally make sure this sweet cinnamon bun is turned into a rotten apple before the final conclusion. If you think he's sort of twisted now wait until the end!**

 **Also poor Izuku's going to have a hang-over next chapter. It'll be more light-hearted as we explore all the random, stupid things he did while he was drunk of his rockers. Thanks to anyone that reviewed! So... guys review! Freaking follow or something too while you're at it so you get my updates when it comes out. Just give me your thoughts!**

 **PPS- Merry Christmas!**


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